I’m with Kyle — Chris Rock was the standout performer last night. Anyone who has done some public speaking knows that it can be disconcerting simply to have people ignore you and fiddle with their phones. To get slapped out of the blue — and slapped hard — and just roll with it is almost impossible to fathom. The reason why I thought at first the incident might have been staged is precisely that Rock bounced back so quickly, seemingly unruffled.
Another reason why this was so bad for Rock — you know, besides the act of violence visited upon him — is that the image of him getting slapped is now part of his legacy. For baseball fans, it’s a little like the image of Robin Ventura in the Nolan Ryan headlock. Except Ventura charged the mound. Rock only told a joke when that was supposed to be his job. He didn’t deserve this.
Finally, Will Smith is either half out of his mind or thinks, as the very definition of an A-lister, he can assault people and get away with it, and even weave committing an act of battery on live TV into his self-valorizing Oscars acceptance speech with no one objecting. And he was right. If you needed any more evidence how twisted and corrupt our celebrity culture is, last night provided it.