Sure. One more time for the folks in the back:
Official Staff Communication
Staff are continuing to go through reports in the original thread, and we probably will for awhile considering that thread's size. It will also likely not be reopened, but that isn't determined at this point in time. Still, we have a lot to address since discussion has moved here, so sit down and get comfortable kids.
It is firstly most important to recognize the largest victim in this scenario: Jada Pinkett Smith. What happened to her last night is that, in a mostly white space, a Black woman was directly targeted by a person in a temporary position of power over her and made to feel lesser over an issue that not only is very personal for her, but one she cannot control. It's also an issue that, even if she could control it, inevitably plays into the sociopolitical ramifications of Black hair, especially Black women's hair, which is irrevocably tied to Black oppression. Look at the CROWN Act. Look at John Oliver's take on the matter. Hell, look at Rock's own documentary about the very subject. This is not a subject equivalent to the treatment of male pattern baldness in men, especially white men, and to treat it as such shows a telling ignorance of the matter. Pile on top of this all of the glaringly inappropriate comments about her relationship to her husband, which is all rooted in the realms of sexism and bias against those in open relationships, and what you have left at the end of it all is textbook misogynoir.
Ultimately, all Jada did last night was show up to support her husband in one of the most pivotal moments of his professional career, and she was not only attacked twice for it, but she has primarily been brought up only as a way to emasculate her husband. Jada was humiliated and then further dehumanized as a mere weapon, and that is unacceptable.
What is also unacceptable is the rampant ableism that has occurred in that thread. Of course the use of her alopecia in Chris Rock's set qualifies as this, but just as well, any psychological professional will tell you that a single moment of lost control or lack of inhibition is not any serious indicator or symptom of mental illness, or of more inappropriate terms such as being "unhinged" or "dangerous." All this kind of concern trolling and armchair diagnosis does is reinforce stereotypes that physical violence is strictly the realm of the mentally unwell, it upholds people to impossible and unrealistic standards, and it pushes away uncomfortable conversations about violence's role in the establishment and maintenance of modern society.
It cannot also be understated that these sorts of sentiments are further escalated when you factor in the Blackness of both Will Smith and Chris Rock. Black people are seen as more predominantly predisposed to violence than white people are, and thus any moment of violence on part of a Black person, especially in a predominantly white space, is amplified as an important moment, something to be outrageously afraid of, something that permanently stains not just the persons involved, but the Black community as a whole. And when you recall the fact that this is not even the first time that the Oscars have turned violent, and how little a moment where a white man had to be restrained by security from barreling down on a Native woman, actually mattered to both the lack of collective racialization of white people and an uptick in sociopolitical concern by entertainers about their safety on stage, then the double standard becomes even more obvious. Let's not even go down the road of the insistence that Rock should utilize the police against Smith, regardless of how he feels, in the aftermath of the police violence protests two years ago.
So when you get down to brass tacks, what happened last night? What happened is that Chris Rock made a dumb, dated joke about Jada Smith's lack of hair, which angered Will Smith enough to get up, open-hand slap him once, leave, and verbally berate him afterwards. Rock was understandably shocked but brushed off the incident with a calm reserve and jokes aimed at his own expense to continue on, and he ultimately decided not to press charges for the assault. Really... this is a nothingburger of an incident, beyond the fact that it happened between two multimillionaires at an awards show watched by millions around the globe.
Should you slap people for insulting your loved ones? Probably not. Was it illegal? Yes; Rock has a case if he wanted to pursue it. Is it understandable that Smith had a moment where he hit someone? Sure, human beings hit others for insults all the time, and as a highly-scrutinized celebrity, it's not surprising his threshold was reached tonight. Should a single slap be considered some watershed moment in the conversation about violence in America? Probably fucking not, considering the history and current status quo of America. Should every single illegal action that ever takes place be pursued by police involvement? Also probably fucking not. In an ironically more chill world, that thread would've been full of memes and maybe dropped off. Instead, staff are having to mill through nearly 100 reports and having to address this with a big statement because people who are constantly online can't just not be at 11 all the time.
In short, just go outside.
