AYE a picture fan, the annual Oscars ceremony is a highlight of my year.
I used to enjoy it ‘live’ on telly in the wee, sma’ oors. But recently, when it’s been exclusive to Sky Cinema, I watch the Red Carpet on E! and rely on my loon to keep me posted.
So, at 3.33am on Monday, came the text: “Will Smith just slapped Chris Rock during the ceremony.”
He sent me a video of Smith’s foul-mouthed rant. Shocking stuff and light years from the charming old footage of the Oscars, when the glorious stars of the day – the women in gloriously elegant gowns – made short, simple speeches, which preserved the magic of the movies. Now the actors all have “woke” messages to ram down our throats and the frocks get so bizarre most normal wifies would only wear them for a bet.
The big debate is; what made Will Smith react as he did? Was it because he finally got the chance to prove his masculinity after months of stories about wife Jada’s infidelity? Possibly, but I’ve got my ain theory.
What made Will Smith see red?
Within a whisper of winning the Oscar for his part as the Williams’ sisters’ dad in King Richard – a film he’d nurtured and produced – it was to be a huge night in Smith’s career. An executive producer, Jada was also on an exciting countdown to the ceremony, planning long in advance her hugely elaborate dress. I’m sorry but that emerald green thing with the enormous rouched taffeta train, was truly affa.
Will Smith has apologized for slapping Chris Rock during the Oscars on Sunday after the comedian joked about Smith's wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Pinkett Smith, who has shaved her head, suffers from hair loss due to the autoimmune disease alopecia. https://t.co/sbqxQRVNcD pic.twitter.com/ZSOwHs8XXI
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 29, 2022
My Red Carpet broadcast later revealed that, when the gown arrived with the Smiths, the train weighed about the same as a small armed tank. Jada could barely move in it, so it was sent off to dress-makers to have a major whack of the material sliced off, not coming back until the morning of the Oscars. By the time they got to the Dolby Theatre, they must have both been stressed to the max. Sure enough, Jada could only sort of hop-and-jump on to the Red Carpet. Will looked on, stoney-faced.
Art imitating life at Oscars
Then came Rock’s joke about Jada’s shaved head. Smith laughed. She fumed. The most important night of his life was gan doon the pan. The Red Mist exploded over him. Lashed out at Rock, then the oath-filled rants of a man in blinding anger.
It remains to be seen where the security staff were during the scuffle. Jeremy Kyle’s enormous gadgies would have been on that stage in seconds. Smith should have been outta there pronto for his thuggish behaviour, Oscar doon the tubes.
As it iwas, when he finally got his prize, he blubbed over a flabbergastingly hypocritical speech about wanting to be an ambassador for peace and love.
The only really true words he spoke were about art imitating life. It sure does. In the film King Richard, the Williams’ sisters’ dad is a bully – and so is its angry, violent star.
Moreen Simpson is a former assistant editor of The Press & Journal and started her journalism career in 1970
