“Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.”, said Chirs Rock,

Will Smith slapped Chris Rock then followed the attack with a brutal remark at the 94th Academy Awards, triggering a flood of reactions and opposing views.

After this, the topic came to an end at the Oscar’s, but it had only just begun for everybody who saw the incident play out.

Will Smith is a beloved celebrity at the Mount, even more so since he grew up locally in West Philadelphia. Of course, Will’s choice of violence, goes against the mission of Mount, but some do believe Chris was more in the wrong.

For example, Leah Manzo-McCottry ‘22 said, “I personally think that Chris Rock should have never made that joke, and it wasn’t funny to joke about Jada’s alopecia, and that while violence was never the answer, don’t make a joke about someone’s wife’s condition, alopecia.”

During Chris Rock’s speech, he made a joke comparing Jada Smith to G.I. Jane, a female lead who has a shaved head just like Jada does. However, Jada’s head is shaved because of her disease, alopecia.

Meanwhile, other students think that Will’s actions put him in the wrong.

“I think Will Smith displayed crazed behavior…it’s psychotic when you’re a professional man in his 50’s in Hollywood…to walk on stage and slap somebody across the face in front of a live audience! I think that’s crazy.” said Anne Marie Wallace ‘22.

Everybody is in agreement that the whole encounter was absolutely shocking, but could it be so unbelievable to the point that it was planned?

Kate Grace Kelly ‘22, thinks it was. “…..Chris Rock shouldn’t have made that joke ‘cause it’s just a horrible joke and it like isn’t funny. However, I think that with Will Smith, resorting to violence and slapping him, after I don’t know if his laugh was sarcastic or not, but after laughing on live television at it, is very out of character,…, so that makes me think it’s a publicity stunt.”

Will Smith has been receiving consequences for his violent actions. He is now banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years, along with any other Academy related event. Netflix also cancelled the production of Bright 2, the sequel of the movie Bright, that Will Smith starred in.

Since Will’s career has clearly been hurt, almost as bad as Chris’s face, his fans want to defend him. Therefore the controversy continues.