One writer has insisted that Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars to teach him ‘responsibility’ for his years of jokes about black women.
Candace McDuffie, head writer for The Root, penned an essay on Sunday titled Chris Rock Still Deserved To Get Slapped By Will Smith, just one day after the comedian sounded off a live special about the now-infamous moment at the Oscars last year. . .
She was then brought on the new CNN morning show Tuesday to share her thoughts, with even Don Lemon apparently questioning her views.
McDuffie tried to explain on the show that Rock, 58, made black women the “butt of her jokes for years” and should be held accountable for her words, which she said could incite violence.
Candace McDuffie, a senior writer for The Root, insisted Tuesday that comedian Chris Rock deserved to be slapped for his years of jokes about black women.
The dramatic moment occurred on air during the 2022 Oscars ceremony after Rock, who was hosting the event, made a comment about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
“It’s not so much about getting slapped as it is about responsibility, right,” he told Lemon. “He has made black women specifically the butt of his jokes for years and he is finally being held accountable.
“So I feel like this sets a precedent going forward that people will be more careful about how they treat black women.”
At the time, Lemon warned McDuffie that people would focus on his words and say, ‘Candace McDuffie condones violence and says Will Smith should have slapped Chris Rock?’
McDuffie later admitted that, in the “literal sense”, his words seemed “a bit of a stretch”.
But as you wrote in your article for The root on Sunday. “This is not about condoning violence, but words, especially words that make black women the punchline, should have consequences.”
As she told Lemon on Tuesday: ‘Honestly, sitting here, you know, calling Jada by name, making fun of the condition of her hair, talking about her alopecia, words can be violent too.
“And as we see black girls and women, we are being abused at higher rates in this country, so continuing to humiliate ourselves only perpetuates this,” she stated.
McDuffie told CNN This Morning host Don Lemon that Rock must be held accountable for his words, which she said could “incite violence.”
When Lemon asked what he would say to those who think he’s being “too sensitive” about Rock’s comedy, he noted that “a lot of people laugh… when they hear the jokes and say he’s just being a comedian,” McDuffie suggested. . it’s a problem with comedy in America.
“I think it speaks to a larger American pattern of using marginalized people as comic fodder,” he said.
He then went on to say: ‘It can also lead to incitement to violence. It can lead to us not being seen as human.
“Words in comedy have greater consequences, as we’ve seen in recent years.”
He then went on to say that what he saw on the Netflix special “wasn’t comedy,” arguing that it was “really pain.”
McDuffie suggested that Rock “hasn’t healed from what happened, and instead of dealing with those emotions and those feelings, he’s just taking it out” on the black woman.
Her comments come just days after the comedian addressed the viral moment in a live stand-up special.
In the special, Rock accused Will Smith of having “selective outrage” by claiming that he was genuinely upset that his wife had been having an affair with his son’s friend.
The interview comes just days after Rock addressed the viral slap in his stand-up special.
The dramatic moment occurred on air during the 2022 Oscars ceremony after Rock, who was hosting the event, made a comment about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
But in his live special, Rock claimed that anyone who actually knew about the circumstances surrounding the slap knew it wasn’t really about him, as he accused Smith, 54, of “selective outrage,” lashing out that his wife had an affair.
She even brought up the fact that Jada Pinkett Smith only confessed to having an affair while interviewing her husband, noting, “His wife was fucking her son’s friend.”
Now, Rock says his ears are still ringing and he watches the I Am Legend star’s feature film, Emancipation, “just to see how emotional he gets.”