For the first time in years, the Oscars had a memorable moment and it’s brought attention to bullying as well as bringing people to Will Smith’s defense as he’s been psychoanalyzed by social media in general.
Not bad for what appears to have been a planned stunt according to many.
It makes sense given the Oscars, and award shows in general, have seen their rating plummet in recent years as they’ve taken to lecturing people rather than accepting their award and moving on.
They’ve fallen flat with audiences and something had to change.
And this is where it gets interesting as Will Smith slapping Chris Rock has been trending on social media for a couple of days after the moment.
People have asked what and who does it serve if it was fake and how could they plan something like this.
They’re fair questions, and a pro wrestling legend took to social media to share a image that breaks down the moment as well as sharing his thoughts.
People are emailing me asking if the Will Smith/Chris Rock incident at the Oscars was…uh…ahem…planned? Really people?? This is what wrestling was built off of. Nobody knew but Will and Chris. That’s all that needed to know. But check out this photo. @rdore2000 pic.twitter.com/xST5IPRjKA
— 𝔻𝕣. 𝔻𝕦𝕥𝕔𝕙 (@DirtyDMantell) March 28, 2022
From the pros
Dutch Mantell has seen just about everything in wrestling and has a super keep wrestling mind, so when he shared the above image and pointed out only Smith and Rock had to know about it basically puts it to bed.
As Dutch said: “People are emailing me asking if the Will Smith/Chris Rock incident at the Oscars was…uh…ahem…planned? Really people?? This is what wrestling was built off of. Nobody knew but Will and Chris. That’s all that needed to know. But check out this photo. @rdore2000”
Pro wrestling is about making choregraphed fighting look as real as possible, and there are several things to look for that were broken down as tell tale signs.
Another thing to consider is they’re both actors, and Smith knows how to pull a punch, or a slap in this instance, and make it look real. He Smith’s outburst afterwards and his subsequent apology can be chalked up to his acting ability.
Possible reasons
Going on the assumption it was pre-planned between them, there are several viable reasons for it. One is ticket sales for Chris Rock’s comedy tour have reportedly skyrocketed.
Another is, as we mentioned above, poor ratings. While ratings for these Oscars are reportedly up 50% over last year, but it was still the second worst ratings for the show in history.
This has people talking about it and has garnered the show more attention, albeit the show may now have wanted it this way. It depends on if someone behind the scenes went rogue and was in on the slap or not.
Another reason is simply Smith and Rock bringing attention to bullying as there have been reports that Jada has been getting ripped for her hair despite her having a medical condition called alopecia.
Whether staged or not, the slap helped out several points. What do you think? Was it staged or a legitimate reaction from Smith? Let us know in the comments below.
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