There is going to be plenty of pointless debate over whether Will Smith was right to slap Chris Rock for making an inappropriate joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s medical condition. Others will debate whether Chris Rock should press charges. Some are even claiming it was staged to boost ratings.
But there’s a bigger point here, and as much as I hate to bring race into any discussion where it doesn’t belong, Kyle Becker from Becker News brought up a great point on Twitter:
“If Will Smith was a white guy, he would have been led out of the Oscars in handcuffs. Then police would have thrown him in jail. There would be a thousand media hit pieces about him being ‘racist.’ He would be canceled for life. Instead, he won Best Actor. That’s ‘privilege.'”
If Will Smith was a white guy, he would have been led out of the Oscars in handcuffs. Then police would have thrown him in jail.
There would be a thousand media hit pieces about him being 'racist.' He would be canceled for life.
Instead, he won Best Actor. That's 'privilege.'
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) March 28, 2022
Smith won Best Actor for his role in King Richard, a biopic about Venus and Serena Williams and their coach/father, Richard. But would he have even made it to the stage if he were a White man slapping a Black man on national television? Would the Oscars have been swarmed with LAPD within minutes of the incident? Would the debate over whether he was right or wrong to assault Rock be moot because of his race?
We won’t know for sure unless something like that happens, but Becker’s point is correct. Black-on-Black violence doesn’t receive anywhere near the same attention or media gaslighting as White-on-Black violence. As for Black-on-White violence, corporate media often refuses to even cover it.
