March 9, 2023 • 12 mins
Comedian Chris Rock finally addressed the Will Smith Oscar's altercation during his Netflix special. Host Ramses Ja shares his thoughts on the Chris Rock special on today's edition of "One More Thing".
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I
am your host, Ramsay's Jaw. And sometimes the amount of
stories that make their way to us means that we
simply can't cover everything that comes our way. But from
time to time, a story just stays with me and
I feel compelled to share with you and give you
my thoughts. And now one more thing I love will
(00:34):
smith my whole life. I love this. I saw him
open up a run DMC at the Nassau Colle Seal
and now as I watch emancipatient, just to see him
get whooped, a lot of people go, Chris, how come
you didn't do nothing back? How come you didn't do
nothing back that night? Because I got parents, That's why.
(00:57):
Because I was raised, I got parish. You know, my
parents taught me don't fight in front of white Peppo
is the man right there, the one and only Chris
Rock finally responding to the incident at the Oscars last year. Now,
(01:28):
I want to tell you that I just saw this.
I waited until I knew I was going to be
able to record this and uploaded, so I didn't watch
it until just a few minutes ago. And the reason
I did that is because I wanted to share my
initial reaction to you as stretch as I could. So
(01:56):
in short, I thought it was great. I thought it
was wonderful. I've seen over the past few days that
there have been some people who've loved it and some
people who didn't love it, or have been people who
have doubled down on their support of Will Smith and
(02:18):
his protecting his wife, and then there's been people who
have a different take altogether. They think that it was
just kind of a masterminded play for Chris Rock to
make money off of this. I've read all that, and
I don't think that any of those things are necessarily
(02:44):
the reason that this happened the way that it did. Rather,
what I saw was something that seemed like it was cathartic,
therapeutic or Chris Rock. I'm sure behind closed doors, he's
(03:04):
had many conversations with close friends over the past year
about that incident. He seemed composed, he seemed frustrated at
the same time, perhaps because it's something that is pivotal
(03:28):
and he'll be forever associated with that moment. But he
also seemed like he was in the best position to
laugh about it. So all those things seemed true at
the same time, of course, he mentioned that he grew
(03:50):
up loving Will Smith and listed all the reasons that
he loved Will Smith, and then he made it funny
by saying that, you know, he laughs or he cheers
the massa every time Will gets whipped. In the show Emancipation,
(04:10):
he talks, of course about the infamous entanglement that Jada
Pinkett Smith had with august Alsina and the subsequent interview
that Jada had with her husband Will and the fallout
of that interview, and the way that Chris told the
(04:34):
story was that there was a compilation of all of
these events in Will Smith's personal life, culminating in that
moment where Will Smith took it out on Chris Rock.
He noted their size difference. You know, Will Smith got
(04:57):
up there and took out his frustration on someone who's
significant and bigger than and that he could overpower. And
then his conclusion was to say that he didn't fight
back because he knew that his parents would be disappointed
if he ended up fighting in front of white people.
(05:21):
And I felt better for those of you who are
long time listeners of the show when that slap happened.
That troubled me deeply. I think I mentioned last year
that it felt like like two of my uncles were fighting.
You know, I grow up watching Will Smith's movies and
(05:43):
Chris Rocks movies, and you know, listening to their music
and their their albums. They both have the albums, and
just kind of knowing who they are, and when you
grow up alongside someone like that, you feel connected to
them in a very rush away. I'm sure that you
may feel a similar connection with these folks, and so
(06:06):
when they start fighting with each other and you love
both of them, it's deeply unsettling. And then of course
to see what was happening online, you know, people just
crucifying one or the other or both. It it felt
(06:28):
like the cursed timeline that we were living in. And
the one thing that Will Smith got to do was
he got to say his peace. After a while, he
put up a post, and then after a while he
put up like a brief interview, and then it was
(06:48):
a little after that he put up another one, a
second interview, And I watched all of them, and it
felt like Will Smith was genuinely sorry, and he was
ready for whatever was coming his way, and he respected
(07:09):
how this might play out, and I'm sure that he
anticipated that it could play out in the way that
Chris Rock did on stage, and with everything taken together,
I don't think that Chris Rock was unfair at all.
He only told the truth. He was not particularly unkind.
(07:32):
Bear in mind, he is a comedian, so his job
is to make people laugh. And he's saying that the
mass those whipping Will Smith and emancipation and he's cheering
the mass on. That's a joke. Will Smith was never whipped.
He made it a point to say that he was
not a victim, and I didn't hear a victim when
he was up there talking, He's like, I took that punch,
(07:54):
like Pacia and all things considered, after something like that,
that's about what you would expect, what I would expect.
Now I'm not I'm not going to pretend like you
haven't seen it, But for me, it feels like moving
(08:17):
past the worst part of that curse timeline, because I think,
at least in my world, I was worried about how
that would affect him. I was worried about you know,
how do you recover from something like that? You know,
(08:39):
how do you reclaim your honor? Remember a man slapping
you in the face in front of the world, and
you having to take it as a tall ask. It's
different if you, you know, shoot a fair one and
(09:00):
you lose. You know, it either wasn't in the cards,
or you didn't have it that day, or the person
was bigger or stronger, or just you know, whatever the
case is. But to get slapped open palm across your
face and then he turns and goes and sits down
and then cusses you out and you just have to
(09:20):
stay there, composed as you can be, and you know
the show must go on. That's a lot to come
back from. And I didn't think that Chris Rock deserved
that slap, And in that moment, I'll be honest, I
felt like Will Smith was trying to defend his wife
(09:46):
from everyone constantly attacking her, and he just kind of
lumped Chris Rock's joke about her baldness in with that.
One thing I did with she would have addressed is
whether or not he knew that she had alopecia, but
he didn't cover that part in his stand up special
(10:10):
because obviously that would change the tone of things just
a bit. Even if someone has an ailment, it doesn't
necessarily mean that they're struggling with it. They could be
owning it or embracing it, or they might be okay
with lighthearted jokes about it. But whether or not he
(10:30):
knew in the first place could color that picture a
little differently. But in all, as I said, it felt
like moving a bit past a very troubling moment. I
applaud Chris Rock for playing chess with this, not checkers.
(10:50):
I applaud him for being principled and being the man
that he is. You know, he said his piece when
the time was right, when the audience was right, when
the circumstances were right, and he didn't play the victim
role at all. He owned it, and I felt the
(11:17):
same from Will Smith. I felt like his apologies was sincere.
And of course, my hope will always be that at
some point we'll see the two of these guys in
the same place at the same time, fully healed from
this moment and maybe even working together, including Jada, Because
(11:39):
when you look back at it now, having both sides
of the story, you realize that it was misplaced anger potentially.
You know that that can still be discussed, but it
seems like that's what it is, and it feels like
a moment that everyone can heal from fully. So my
(12:05):
hope is that that's what's next. And as always, I
opened the floor to you for a discussion. So gibia
at Ramsay's Job on All social Media and of course
you can use the red microphone talkback feature on the
I Heart radio app. What do you think? Can't wait
to hear from you and until I do peace. This
(12:28):
has been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's
show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd
like to share? Use the red microphone talkback feature on
the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit
subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host,
Ramsay's Job on All Social Media. Join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
(12:48):
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I
am your host, Ramsay's Jaw. And sometimes the amount of
stories that make their way to us means that we
simply can't cover everything that comes our way. But from
time to time, a story just stays with me and
I feel compelled to share with you and give you
my thoughts. And now one more thing I love will
(00:34):
smith my whole life. I love this. I saw him
open up a run DMC at the Nassau Colle Seal
and now as I watch emancipatient, just to see him
get whooped, a lot of people go, Chris, how come
you didn't do nothing back? How come you didn't do
nothing back that night? Because I got parents, That's why.
(00:57):
Because I was raised, I got parish. You know, my
parents taught me don't fight in front of white Peppo
is the man right there, the one and only Chris
Rock finally responding to the incident at the Oscars last year. Now,
(01:28):
I want to tell you that I just saw this.
I waited until I knew I was going to be
able to record this and uploaded, so I didn't watch
it until just a few minutes ago. And the reason
I did that is because I wanted to share my
initial reaction to you as stretch as I could. So
(01:56):
in short, I thought it was great. I thought it
was wonderful. I've seen over the past few days that
there have been some people who've loved it and some
people who didn't love it, or have been people who
have doubled down on their support of Will Smith and
(02:18):
his protecting his wife, and then there's been people who
have a different take altogether. They think that it was
just kind of a masterminded play for Chris Rock to
make money off of this. I've read all that, and
I don't think that any of those things are necessarily
(02:44):
the reason that this happened the way that it did. Rather,
what I saw was something that seemed like it was cathartic,
therapeutic or Chris Rock. I'm sure behind closed doors, he's
(03:04):
had many conversations with close friends over the past year
about that incident. He seemed composed, he seemed frustrated at
the same time, perhaps because it's something that is pivotal
(03:28):
and he'll be forever associated with that moment. But he
also seemed like he was in the best position to
laugh about it. So all those things seemed true at
the same time, of course, he mentioned that he grew
(03:50):
up loving Will Smith and listed all the reasons that
he loved Will Smith, and then he made it funny
by saying that, you know, he laughs or he cheers
the massa every time Will gets whipped. In the show Emancipation,
(04:10):
he talks, of course about the infamous entanglement that Jada
Pinkett Smith had with august Alsina and the subsequent interview
that Jada had with her husband Will and the fallout
of that interview, and the way that Chris told the
(04:34):
story was that there was a compilation of all of
these events in Will Smith's personal life, culminating in that
moment where Will Smith took it out on Chris Rock.
He noted their size difference. You know, Will Smith got
(04:57):
up there and took out his frustration on someone who's
significant and bigger than and that he could overpower. And
then his conclusion was to say that he didn't fight
back because he knew that his parents would be disappointed
if he ended up fighting in front of white people.
(05:21):
And I felt better for those of you who are
long time listeners of the show when that slap happened.
That troubled me deeply. I think I mentioned last year
that it felt like like two of my uncles were fighting.
You know, I grow up watching Will Smith's movies and
(05:43):
Chris Rocks movies, and you know, listening to their music
and their their albums. They both have the albums, and
just kind of knowing who they are, and when you
grow up alongside someone like that, you feel connected to
them in a very rush away. I'm sure that you
may feel a similar connection with these folks, and so
(06:06):
when they start fighting with each other and you love
both of them, it's deeply unsettling. And then of course
to see what was happening online, you know, people just
crucifying one or the other or both. It it felt
(06:28):
like the cursed timeline that we were living in. And
the one thing that Will Smith got to do was
he got to say his peace. After a while, he
put up a post, and then after a while he
put up like a brief interview, and then it was
(06:48):
a little after that he put up another one, a
second interview, And I watched all of them, and it
felt like Will Smith was genuinely sorry, and he was
ready for whatever was coming his way, and he respected
(07:09):
how this might play out, and I'm sure that he
anticipated that it could play out in the way that
Chris Rock did on stage, and with everything taken together,
I don't think that Chris Rock was unfair at all.
He only told the truth. He was not particularly unkind.
(07:32):
Bear in mind, he is a comedian, so his job
is to make people laugh. And he's saying that the
mass those whipping Will Smith and emancipation and he's cheering
the mass on. That's a joke. Will Smith was never whipped.
He made it a point to say that he was
not a victim, and I didn't hear a victim when
he was up there talking, He's like, I took that punch,
(07:54):
like Pacia and all things considered, after something like that,
that's about what you would expect, what I would expect.
Now I'm not I'm not going to pretend like you
haven't seen it, But for me, it feels like moving
(08:17):
past the worst part of that curse timeline, because I think,
at least in my world, I was worried about how
that would affect him. I was worried about you know,
how do you recover from something like that? You know,
(08:39):
how do you reclaim your honor? Remember a man slapping
you in the face in front of the world, and
you having to take it as a tall ask. It's
different if you, you know, shoot a fair one and
(09:00):
you lose. You know, it either wasn't in the cards,
or you didn't have it that day, or the person
was bigger or stronger, or just you know, whatever the
case is. But to get slapped open palm across your
face and then he turns and goes and sits down
and then cusses you out and you just have to
(09:20):
stay there, composed as you can be, and you know
the show must go on. That's a lot to come
back from. And I didn't think that Chris Rock deserved
that slap, And in that moment, I'll be honest, I
felt like Will Smith was trying to defend his wife
(09:46):
from everyone constantly attacking her, and he just kind of
lumped Chris Rock's joke about her baldness in with that.
One thing I did with she would have addressed is
whether or not he knew that she had alopecia, but
he didn't cover that part in his stand up special
(10:10):
because obviously that would change the tone of things just
a bit. Even if someone has an ailment, it doesn't
necessarily mean that they're struggling with it. They could be
owning it or embracing it, or they might be okay
with lighthearted jokes about it. But whether or not he
(10:30):
knew in the first place could color that picture a
little differently. But in all, as I said, it felt
like moving a bit past a very troubling moment. I
applaud Chris Rock for playing chess with this, not checkers.
(10:50):
I applaud him for being principled and being the man
that he is. You know, he said his piece when
the time was right, when the audience was right, when
the circumstances were right, and he didn't play the victim
role at all. He owned it, and I felt the
(11:17):
same from Will Smith. I felt like his apologies was sincere.
And of course, my hope will always be that at
some point we'll see the two of these guys in
the same place at the same time, fully healed from
this moment and maybe even working together, including Jada, Because
(11:39):
when you look back at it now, having both sides
of the story, you realize that it was misplaced anger potentially.
You know that that can still be discussed, but it
seems like that's what it is, and it feels like
a moment that everyone can heal from fully. So my
(12:05):
hope is that that's what's next. And as always, I
opened the floor to you for a discussion. So gibia
at Ramsay's Job on All social Media and of course
you can use the red microphone talkback feature on the
I Heart radio app. What do you think? Can't wait
to hear from you and until I do peace. This
(12:28):
has been a production of the Black Information Network. Today's
show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd
like to share? Use the red microphone talkback feature on
the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to hit
subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host,
Ramsay's Job on All Social Media. Join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
(12:48):
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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