You may not remember which movie won the Oscar this year (it was the somewhat sensitive but very decent ‘CODA’), but sure you remember the slap that Will Smith gave Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and ‘Lieutenant O’Neill’. Months later, the subject still grates because Smith has made a video apologizing to Rock… and the comedian has responded from the stage.
Why can’t we be friends?
“I apologize, my behavior was unacceptable and I’m here when you’re ready to talk.” In the video, Smith apologizes to Chris Rock’s entire family and accepts that the relationship is probably irreparable but is ready to speak when the comedian is ready. “I promise we can be friends again”, culminate. It is not a spectacular video, it arrives late and stokes the embers, but the silence would be worse. Or not?
“If everyone claims to be a victim, then no one will listen to the real victims.. Even me being slapped by Suge Smith”, he said in one of his monologues after the actor’s public apologies. In case you don’t know who Suge Smith is, he is the co-founder of Death Row Records, one of the rap and hip hop producers famous in history, who killed a man and is serving a 28-year prison sentence. It was not a random comparison precisely, wow.
The controversy has caught Smith with a tremendous project in full post-production phase, Antoine Fuqua’s film ‘Emancipation’, which Apple bought for 120 million dollars and a priori will be released in 2023 when it ceases to be poison at the box office. For his part, Chris Rock will release two tapes this year and continues with his very successful monologues that he is still polishing and where you can hear allusions like “Anyone who says words don’t hurt has never been punched in the face”.