This of course has nothing to do with the world of psychedelics, but did anyone watch the Oscars last night? I'm curious to hear peoples' reactions, as they haven't been as clear and one sided as I would have imagined today.

Personally, I feel it was an entirely regrettable bitch-assed move that really served no one very well. I also think it's likely to result in unintended consequences for a whole bunch of people who probably would have preferred he just stayed in his seat and controlled himself.

This may come as a surprise to some, as I am a product (to some degree) of the school of fuck around and find out. But these same schoolyard rules of engagement also dictate that you don't pick on dudes half your size, cold cock them when they're not expecting it, or do so as some kind of weirdly performative TV gesture, and then strut away like you've just done something gutsy and commendable.

Chris Rock is a paid comedian who was fulfilling the job he was hired for. He's hosted the event several times, and that is largely his act. Was it a nasty and personal joke? Sure, I suppose it was. Did it cross a line? Maybe, but again, that's the deal. He was brought there to roast the stars in attendance. Nobody else popped a gasket.

But the entire Smith family has made the conscious decision to live out every single nanosecond of their weird and tacky superstar lives on screens and in the public eye. They're basically Kardashians, so they don't really get to make that deal and then pick and choose what specific elements of their mockable lives get trotted out for public mockery.

And not for nuthin', but last night was the first ever Oscars ceremony brought to you by an all black production team. The event was by far the most racially and ethnically diverse one in its history. Clearly these were hard fought gains. It was a very purposeful and sorely needed push towards inclusion and representation - and that should have been the story of the night (along with the win of CODA). I guess that's the thing that I find most unfortunate. All of that progress is now set back because Will Smith is a psychotic baby man who couldn't keep it in his pants. He gave ammunition to every old school racist in Hollywood (and beyond) who would rather revert to a whitewashed world. With great power comes great responsibility.

Plus, at the end of the day, he undermined what will undoubtedly be the defining moment of his own career by conducting himself as a psycho, and he flat out guaranteed that his wife will henceforth be known ONLY as GI Jane, EVERY time she leaves the house... FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE.

The first, and for me, being an African-America, the most unfortunate thing was how something organized by an all black production team still fits the stereotype of "black on black" violence due to Will Smith's unnecessary actions. Open the flood gates for all the racists out there.

My other qualms about it was why now? You're a celebrity and plenty of people have jokes about you an your family, from the average joe to other celebrities. Not only that, I didn't find the joke derogatory enough to warrant violence. Chris Rock made a joke by comparison and didn't make GI Jane seem like a bad thing. It was only to parallel baldness. GI Jane was a badass bald woman. So much for being civilized...

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I thought that was absolutely ridiculous. What I gathered is Will Smith has a lot more going on than what meets the eye. That was some form of projection, imo. That joke definitely didn’t warrant tgat kind of aggression.

It did leave a little flavor reminiscent of Idiocracy. My prediction, next year there will be an “accidental” nipple slip.

I mean, he wasn't making fun of her having cancer. She's bald (or balding), and these are some of the biggest attention whores on the planet. She's made the rounds on daytime TV to demonstrate her boundless bravery in baldness, so why should that be off limits to what was clearly intended by the Academy as a Chris Rock roasting interlude? And he was basically comparing her to a 25 year old movie star who at the time was seen as some kind of gold standard of physical beauty. So yeah, I think it was an outsized reaction... or honestly, a certifiably psychotic one.

I just think he could have handled the situation in any of a million different ways, any of which would have been better for everyone involved. How, you ask? Well, he coulda heckled him. Still bad form, but it's better than violence. Or, he coulda had it out backstage with the guy during a commercial break. He coulda taken the opportunity to address it in his speech, or in any of the 10,000 post-ceremony interviews he would have given, win or lose. He coulda waited until after and asked the guy to step out back, or discretely done so at the after party, but he didn't do any of those things. He seized the moment for a public display of performative bullshit that made him look completely out of control, and will more than likely now make things harder for people of color in Hollywood than they already were before.

It seems clear that the smith family have been going through some very public issues with dramas and infidelity. Poor Will's ego has taken some serious knocks and his manhood very much called into question.

Unfortunately, an over the top show of protective bravado will not be seen by most for what he probably thought it meant. But who knows? It might be the catalyst that their relationship needed and if that does result in something positive between the two of them then they should disregard what any one else thinks. Who cares about a career? They already have enough to live comfortably for 1000 lifetimes. Retreat from the stage now and use what time you have left to become human again.

I dont follow the celebrity world in any way other than watching a few movies from time to time. But it feels like Chris Rock knew he was pushing a button there. Perhaps some old conflict between them and he knew evoking a public outburst would win him support and bring shame on Will Smith. Absolute conjecture there.


I find it already highlighting of the race issues of the world that it even needs to be a thing who presents a stupid celebrity event. Until we all see each other as leaves on the same single tree the problem will not be solved.

We are not that far removed from deep tribalist society, so of course we exaggerate minor differences in cultures and appearance. Its subconscious. But we can work on it from better angles than the 'first black this , or the first white that, or the first yellow, brown, green, blue, orange whatever'.

I believe we are evolving slowly towards the one tree realisation and we only have to allow this stupid celebrity world to change things if we want to.

Yeah, saw a clip of it in my youtube feed. For someone to get so upset over something like that, cracks me up.

Was it a real slap? I admit, I didn't watch the clip properly, let alone on fullscreen, but to me it looked like a stage slap of the sort that my performer friends rehearse all the time. If it was staged, does that make it more sinister?

We spent more time laughing at the ridiculous dresses, sure wouldn't have taken much for a nipple slip to occur although they do use strong tape to keep things secure.

So, in stark contrast to my previous conjecture, you got me thinking...

Could the two of them have planned it to help mr Smith save his relationship?


Or second thought..

Could it be staged to distract everyone from something big happening in the world?

Oh, it was real, alright. It was difficult to believe in the moment that it could be, but I don't think there was anything at all pre-planned about it. It was just one overly pampered megastar doing that which he's done in a life completely devoid of consequences for the past 30+ years, and my guess is that he woke up this morning feeling great about it.

And why the heck wouldn't he, really? His behavior was rewarded and validated by the Academy, and he received a standing ovation.

As a trained performer, observing skilled performers, it looked fake to me.

Hunter Biden thanks Will Smith and Chris Rock for taking the media attention off of his crimes and laptop materials... ;-)

Did his completely unhinged acceptance speech seem fake? It sure didn't seem so to me. Nor did Chris Rock's completely befuddled (and yet somehow composed) reaction.

And to that end, what possible benefit would he have had for going along with such a goof? He's got to be scrolling trough Twitter right now, perusing the million and one memes making fun of his moment of emasculation. There's just no way. And Will Smith was laughing heartily at the joke until he got the murder eyes from his wife (who I'm now struggling not to refer to as GI Jane).

I will also say that I didn't even understand the joke when he told it, and would almost certainly have forgotten it within the following two seconds, if not for his manbaby antics.

This was one of the first questions I asked myself. All the same, staged or not, the situation has many negative implications.

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As I say, I didn't watch even the clip properly, let alone even having any interest in watching the whole of the Oscars (in fact I saw it pretty much by accident) so consider my viewpoint null and void (no, not those two!) Popular culture was never my forte, but the whole thing is a great distraction for the masses, slap or no slap.

Yeah, I'm with you. I don't usually watch that kind of stuff either. I don't even know how I ended up in front of the TV last night, other than I was tired and didn't want to get off the couch. It's pop culture banality at it's most grotesque, but I am a huge movie fan.

It's situations like these that make me turn away from media and pop-culture. They're just people, many of which just had the luck of the draw to be where they are, and despite their fame, they're just as naive as most people, spouting sloppy ideals and philosophies and showing their lack of self-control.

It's a farce. It's even more so due to the acclaim and pedestals they're put on because they entertain. Entertainment isn't that important.

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No, but art is, and movies are certainly art (or can be). I didn't see King Richard, but Will Smith is a fine actor; I'm not disputing his talents. He also makes a bunch of disposable garbage movies, and annoys the world endlessly with his family's insatiably vapid attention seeking, but credit where credit is due; the man can certainly act.

Your points about tabloid celebrity culture are most certainly valid, and this was just a really heightened moment of that in action.

I definitely agree, and I have enjoyed his acting, but as his character has appeared to decline over time as a person, it's hard for me to enjoy his acting. That goes for a lot of celebrities for me. I kind of don't care what you do if you act like a POS. That's just me though. And probably why I try not learn too much about different famous individuals. It would drastically limit what I'd be willing to watch which is already limited.

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Performers can be difficult characters on occasion. Add to that the burden of celebrity - well, I'm not out to justify anything but you can see it might be a recipe for all sorts of shenanigans.

Oh, for sure. Having one's ass perpetually kissed by everyone they come into contact with just isn't conducive to change or growth. I mean, if you were in that position, what possible motivation would you ever have to grow up in any way?

I have little to no compassion for this particular conundrum. Not all assbags are famous, and not all famous people are assbags. They could have gone home and wept into a big fucking pile of money, but he wanted the whole enchilada - his moment, his Oscar, your undivided attention, his rep as someone not to be fucked with - and so he did what he did.