Will Smith’s Slap During Academy Award’s Night Cause Uproar and Criticism

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” won the Best International Feature Film Award at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno commented at a press conference held on the morning of January 28th that it was a “historic accomplishment,” and the name “Will Smith” was trending on social networking sites around the world.

This was due to a scene in which Smith, who won his first Best Actor award for “Dream Plan,” slapped comedian Chris Rock, the presenter of the Best Documentary Feature Award, onstage. Locke had made insulting remarks about Will’s wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith.

Immediately after the slap on the stage, there was an uproar in the U.S., where the broadcast was partially interrupted. In his speech, Smith apologized for the series of actions. Criticism from around the world turned to Rock.

At first, some viewers thought it was a ‘setup,’ but Smith’s subsequent apology in his speech made it clear that this was not the case. On the other hand, criticisms are flying that it may have been a ‘flame war’ by the Oscar organizers. Presenter Rock has a history of making jokes about Asian-Americans at the 2016 awards ceremony, where he was also a big hitter.

It is hard to believe that Smith’s reaction was a quip, but if Rock, a “flaming celebrity,” so to speak, was the presenter, there would have been no possibility of such a situation developing. It is speculated that Oscar, whose ratings have been in the doldrums since the Corona disaster, may have wanted to create a controversial topic even if it caused a bit of controversy.

This is not the only criticism that has been leveled at the Oscars this time around.

When actor Daniel Kaluuya and singer H.E.R. took the stage as presenters for the Best Supporting Actress award, they were criticized for playing Toto’s “Africa. The two have roots in Africa, but there is no reason why it had to be this song,” said a journalist.

Note that Jane Campion, who won the Best Director award for “Power of the Dog,” also left a comment at the pre-Oscar Critics Choice Awards ceremony that could be seen as an overemphasis on racism and feminism, which drew criticism from social network users worldwide.

The Academy Awards were supposedly established “for the healthy development of American cinema.” Is it really “healthy” to create a firestorm of controversy?