Chris Rock’s Composure After Getting Slapped Is a Lesson in Decorum…

Few can now recall the winners, losers or speeches of the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 27th. What the world remembers is what the Academy is doing its darndest to have us forget. The moment Lead Actor winner Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock has now been dubbed ‘the slap heard around the world’.

Whilst the incident dominated news feeds and social media, very few are actually speaking about the way Chris Rock conducted himself after that monumental embarrassment. It is unfortunate that the dominant theme among the incident’s discussion is Will’s emotions. Regardless of what made Will snap, isn’t he seasoned enough as a public figure to exercise some level of control over his negative emotions? From Will’s actions, clearly this was not the case. It became apparent that Will may have been offended because of Chris Rock’s comment about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head. It is believed that Pinkett-Smith may be suffering from the common auto-immune disorder Alopecia, that results in permanent hair loss from the scalp, causing baldness.

It was revealed some time after the incident that Chris was actually reading his script and the jokes weren’t written by him. Chris didn’t have time to explain himself as the show must go on. He straighten up, brushed it off, no doubt in some level of discomfort and carried on like a champ.

Put all the videos and memes aside and give Chris Rock the applause he deserves for maintaining his composure and salvaging the night by carrying on. That ladies and gentlemen is a lesson in decorum. Recent reports have emerged that Smith plans to address his actions on his wife’s Facebook show, Red Table Talk.