Last week, Chris Rock told a joke, but Will Smith delivered a punch line. I think it’s safe to say it was a mouth-dropping moment for all of us and an award show moment we’ll never forget. The situation was so unreal and out of the blue that many believed that it must have been staged, but we ended up concluding that the reaction just had to do with how whipped and desperate to please his wife Will Smith is.
Criticism surfaced instantly to Smith for his aggressive and unnecessary reaction, especially for a joke that he was laughing at himself. Over the years, there have been many award show roasts and fights, most handled ten times better. Let’s take a look at a few examples (and Will Smith if you’re reading this, you might wanna take notes).
- Nicki Minaj vs. Miley Cyrus
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It was truly an iconic moment in history when Nicki Minaj called out Miley Cyrus for criticizing her in an interview days prior. It started with the beef between Minaj and Taylor Swift after Minaj claimed that she was snubbed of a VMA award because her music video didn’t surround skinny white women. Since winning the award, Swift took the comment as a stab. When asked to share her opinion about the feud, Miley Cyrus in short said that Minaj was being impolite and should be kinder. This comment boiled down to a white woman sticking the “angry Black woman” label on her Black peer who was only expressing anger toward a possible racist situation. This is what fueled Minaj to make the iconic “Miley, what’s good?” statement.
This is where Will Smith could use some pointers. Miley could have easily reacted similarly to him after Minaj referred to her as “that b**** that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press.” Instead, the actress and singer showed her maturity by saying her piece and moving on unbothered — that’s true queen activity.
- Kanye West vs Taylor Swift
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If you’re surprised that Kanye West is featured in a list of celebrities that have made unnecessary and inappropriate comments, you might want to spend some more time on the internet. Though this is not unlike him, we were still all shocked that he had the audacity.
After winning a VMA award over Beyoncé, Taylor Swift took the stage with a humble and beautifully said speech when the rapper interrupted her to point out that he had other ideas of who should’ve won. After disrespecting the country singer, West handed her the mic back where she stood with a shock that was unshakeable.
In this instance, I wouldn’t have minded if Swift decided to pull a Will Smith.
- Taylor Swift vs. harry styles
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We just can’t get enough of Taylor Swift drama today, but we can’t leave it alone until we mention her diss on our beloved Harry Styles. While accepting an award for her song “I Knew You Were Trouble,” she took a dig at the One Direction member.
“I also wanna thank the person who inspired this song, who knows exactly who he is, because now I got one of these!”
Taylor Swift
As soon as the words left her mouth with her award waving in the air, cameras pan to Styles who kept perfect composure, clapping with an unbothered smirk. He was later interviewed by ExtraTV about the comment where he admits “I like a joke as much as the next guy, so it’s all good.” We love a man that can take a joke and maintain the peace — talk about being the bigger person.
Will Smith’s outburst of rage (or pretend rage so he doesn’t have to sleep on the couch) will go down in television history as maybe the most shocking moment in a live award show. Maybe this will be a wake-up call for all the other celebrities who are enticed to make witty remarks that sometimes even when the joke hits perfectly, others might hit back perfectly too.