Assault at The Oscars

'Love will make you do crazy things'

That is not justification for assault

Smith displayed what looked to me like classic toxic masculinity

Echoes of the Noel Clarke BAFTA fiasco?

The BBC are living for the drama this morning. They're making a half-hearted attempt to feign sympathy for the incident pulling attention from all of the deserving winners, as they proceed to light up with glee as they talk just about it.

It's not for me to say how Jada should react to the joke, but although it was in poor taste and made me cringe, it wasn't half as bad I was expecting it to be given the reaction. I am confident to say that Will completely over-reacted. I accept there would be a lot of nerves and he was presumably already wound up, but did he think he had some manly obligation to defend Jada's honour?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Jane Campion got a lot of abuse for making an ill-thought out joke about sexism in Hollywood when she accepted her Best Director gong at the SAG awards recently. She was addressing Venus and Serena Williams who were in the audience and said something about them being lucky they didn't have to compete against the men. Many thought, not unreasonably, that it diminished the racism they'd faced during their careers, or the general sexism that still exists in sport. But her fundamental point about sexism in the film industry was a very fair one, and she was well within her rights to raise the issue.

I expect Smith will have to do a bit more apologising, but he'll be fine. Everyone loves him. He's a great chat show guest, and has been good to all of the people who shape opinions in showbiz. I'd like to think there will be a proper conversation about assault, and what I'd consider to be a very public example of toxic masculinity. But I bet in reality most of it will just be showbiz reporters loving the drama, in full expectation of a redemption story giving them even more to talk about.

I think it's the opposite of toxic masculinity: I feel it's quite 'gentlemanly', in the old fashioned sense. It's what I would do and actually have done myself, as a woman, several times to young men who insulted me or sexually assaulted me when I was younger and stronger, in the pre-knife-carrying age. It's also what I would expect a male relative would do on my behalf if there was a similar incident directed at me, mocking me, my appearance or disability to a global audience or even just a pub!

Julie Andrews has never hit someone at the Oscars. What a wonderful time that was.

The joke had no class. The violence even less. The worst part of this is that a big part of the population (including posters here) find this kind of behaviour normal. The world is turning into a Zoo, where violence is the only way to express yourself and where hosts of this kind of events descended to dumb roast jokes. The time of real humour, elegance and respect is long gone.

IMO it's thinking it's gentlemanly to 'defend' a female relation when she's more than capable of standing up for herself, is why people are describing it as toxic masculinity. Sometimes calling something gentlemanly behaviour is just an excuse to justify sexism and toxic masculinity. 

Will's behaviour is the opposite of a women (or any victim) fighting back. It was a man assaulting another man, supposedly on behalf of his wife, when she is more than capable of sticking up for herself.

The idea that a joke (even if ill judged) about Jada's hair loss (a subject she's apparently talked about publicly) meaning she can be the new GI Jane is at all equivalent to physical or sexual assault is bonkers. 

What he did was NOT "gentlemanly" by any means.

The last thing we need is some dick-swinging male ego throwing punches to "defend his woman". What year is this? And doing it on live TV in front of the entire planet. Nope.

And then not only is he allowed to stay in the room, but he wins the Oscar and everyone stands and applauds? Gross. His award will forever be tarnished by the memory of his behaviour and rightly so.

Good playwrights shine a light on human behaviour. Many a play can teach us how good people can behave badly when put in positions of extreme stress. And we nod along, because we know it's true from our own experiences.

So it's sad that this website apes the worst of social media, by seeing this event in black and white terms, rushes to judgement, and doesn't seek to understand why what happened happened. I have no idea whether Will Smith is a "good guy" or not, but I wouldn't judge him based on this one incident.

People are reacting to the incident, which was completely wrong no matter who did it. You can't go around hitting people.

I would of course be the first to rush up on stage to collect an Oscar should i get nominated, but one can't help feeling that today the whole circus is somewhat misplaced.

Having this kind of 'joke' at the Oscars in unacceptable. How did we, as a society, get to a place where a man stands on a stage and to millions and millions of people in a global audience makes a joke about a woman with hair loss, a condition many - probably all - women who experience it find distressing, especially given the massive weight of social expectations put on us around our physical appearance? Is that what we consider entertainment nowadays? What passes for wit? 

This was an Oscar ceremony where a film about people with disabilities was the surprise best picture winner. Brilliant. I am disabled myself and in a group that helps promote people with disabilities in the arts and media. One effect of my disability is hair loss. I'm a woman, it's not something expected in women as it is in men, and it makes me very self conscious. 

Chris Rock, a privileged man on a platform at a glitzy ceremony, used that platform to punch down. A verbal response would be water off a duck's back: as soon as she sat down again Rock would have made some smartass remark at her expense. I'd have preferred it if she had got up and slapped him, but her husband doing it on his behalf, when he turned and saw the dismay in her face at Rock's words, feels like an appropriate response in the heat of the moment. 

So if you or someone you know made a joke I (or my partner) found offensive, I would be in the right to give you a smack across the face?

Such a hard one to call, I've heard far worse jokes and it was two guys both well into their 50's. Thank goodness they were the same ethnicity so race cannot be pulled into it. Then you have the motormouth comedian and the other guy who has always been seen in a positive light so sadly there are no winners.

I don't know how well the guys knew each other. I think Chris was thinking Will was joking when he walked up and it was a pitch slap not a full punch.

Anyway lets lighten the mood good job it wasn't Serena Williams who has slapped Chris Rock and apparently Jessie Buckley missed the incident as Emily Bennett was seat sitting for her as Jessie was in queue for Pick N'Mix.

According to the internet (yes, I know) there is historical beef between Rock and the Smiths. He made a joke about them, specifically Jada, at an Oscar's ceremony for their no show. Jada had claimed she was boycotting the event, and Rock made a joke about it along the lines of her not being invited anyway (which was probably true).

So there is perhaps more reason for the joke to be taken in bad faith, but still no excuse for assault or a gushing standing ovation for the assaulter. I've seen some claim that Denzel was reassuring or consoling Will, but based on what Will himself said, it's likely he was telling him that he was wrong and should apologise, but tactfully so he'd listen.