Opinion: Newsflash! Hollywood’s A Sham!!!

By Erin Free

Now that the dust has settled – and opinions have been offered, left, right and centre – on Will Smith’s mind-boggling physical smack-down of Chris Rock at The Academy Awards on Monday, many movie fans have likely been forced to accept as fact something that they most likely knew all along, but had always tried to deny: Hollywood (and most of the high profile people that ply their trade there) is a stone cold sham. It’s a place renowned for its fakery and high falutin’ bullshit, but the pure hypocrisy of Hollywood as an entity – as a metaphor for the American film industry itself – has been thrown into sad relief partly by the actions of one man, but even more tellingly by the response to those actions.

First, a simple question: at what other event, or workplace, would someone be able to physically assault an employee of said event or workplace, and then simply remain at said event with absolutely no recourse whatsoever? At what event, or workplace, would the victim of said assault receive no immediate support whatsoever, despite being assaulted in plain view of thousands of witnesses? What transpired at the Oscars was nothing short of truly bizarre, and the true strangeness of the incident has only been hinted at in the reams of commentary that have since followed Will Smith’s notoriously show-stopping behaviour.

Even in Medieval times – one of the most brutal, cruel and class-based periods in history – The King was not allowed to behead the jester. Even in this horrific period, humour was valued as a leavening force, and as a means to call power to account through satire and pointed ridicule. Sure, Chris Rock made a highly insensitive personal joke about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, as opposed to delivering some form of meaningful comic rebuke, but that’s not really the point. Further in his defence, Chris Rock (like many people watching at home) in all likelihood didn’t know that Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, and likely thought he was merely making a joke about one woman’s unconventional fashion choice when he made a crack about her appearing in GI Jane 2 because of her shaved head.

As a side-point, many others were ridiculed at the Oscars, and did not respond in the grandiose, show-stopping manner that Will Smith did. Director Ridley Scott (who, ironically, helmed the now largely and justifiably forgotten 1997 Demi Moore movie which inspired Chris Rock’s offending joke) copped two huge blows during the show. First, his movie House Of Gucci was referred to as “House Of Random Accents”, and then, in an extended bit, it was announced that Oscar winners would also receive a DVD of a film that “had never been seen by anyone before”, which was eventually revealed to be Ridley Scott’s big budget box office disappointment, The Last Duel. Has Sir Ridley kicked and screamed about these indignities? No, because in England, people tend to have thicker skin and a better sense of humour, with megalomania and entitlement largely confined to members of The Royal Family, like Jeffrey Epstein’s good pal and famous non-perspiring teddy bear collector, Prince Andrew.

What’s really the point in all of this is Will Smith’s blindingly obvious sense of pure, unbridled entitlement. Because he and Jada Pinkett Smith perhaps believe that everyone is familiar with them, and know their life stories in great detail, they seemed to believe that Chris Rock’s joke must have been delivered maliciously, as opposed to the ill-conceived error in judgement that it more likely was. “We’re so famous,” they seemed to be saying, “that he must know that Jada has alopecia!” Well, maybe not. We’re certain that many viewers had to hit Google to learn that Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle was not one worn out of choice, but rather by cruel circumstance.

Will Smith’s sense of entitlement then went supernova when he decided to make Hollywood’s big night all about him. Will Smith could have simply called out from his seat, “Hey Chris, Jada has alopecia. You should look it up and make a donation. That joke isn’t funny. Make it right.” Instead, he stormed the stage and physically assaulted Chris Rock for making a bad joke. If that kind of behaviour was okay, Dane Cook and Carrot-Top (and many, many others) would in all likelihood be dead by now. The joke was insensitive and hurtful, but the response wasn’t right. Will Smith has, of course, duly apologised to Chris Rock, the Oscars, and everyone else…which is a very, very good thing, and absolutely the correct course of action.

What’s truly disturbing about this whole sorry incident, however, is the response – or lack thereof – when it actually happened. It truly showed that in Hollywood, being rich and powerful affords you treatment that is denied to others. Yes, the producers of the event should be cut some slack for the immediate confusion that the incident must have caused. Initially, the whole thing admittedly looked like some kind of weird comedy sketch (perhaps cooked up by Smith and Rock themselves), but when it became clearly obvious that this was the real thing, where was the response? Where were the producers checking on Chris Rock’s wellbeing? Did nobody want to make sure that he was okay? In one of the most bizarre moments ever seen on live TV, Chris Rock actually continued with his presenting gig – only pausing to intone, “Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me!” – after being struck across the face in front of thousands of people. Sure, the show must go on and shit, but that was completely ridiculous.

And where were the producers questioning Will Smith about his actions? Where were the security guards? If, say, an Oscars seat-filler had done the smacking on Will’s behalf, the response would have surely been much, much different. Even if a lesser star, like, say, mmm, Peter Sarsgaard, had done the smacking, we doubt very much, again, that the response would have been the same.

But no, in Hollywood, a “movie king” like Will Smith (“Big Will, I’m the man,” the rapper famously intoned in his track, “Freakin’ It”) was allowed to simply return to his seat unbothered, and then enjoy the rest of the show (he stopped short, however, of waving his hand and muttering, “Continue”) before dancing the night away at one of the many Oscars after parties. When Will Smith finally gave his weird, pained, excuse-laden, tearful speech upon his well-deserved Best Actor win for his bravura work in King Richard, the likes of Bradley Cooper and Denzel Washington (“Don’t be kissing no man,” the Oscar winner infamously advised Smith when he took on the role of a gay man in Six Degrees Of Separation) flocked to soothe and support the wounded king.

“I was sickened,” Jim Carrey has said in response to Will Smith’s actions. “I was sickened by the standing ovation. I felt like Hollywood is just spineless, en masse, and it really felt like this is a really clear indication that we are not the cool club anymore. Will Smith should’ve been [escorted out or arrested]. Chris Rock doesn’t want the hassle, but I’d have announced that I was suing Will for $200 million. That video is going to be there forever. That insult is going to last a very long time. If you want to yell from the audience, and disapprove, or say something or whatever… you do not have the right to walk on stage and smack somebody on the face because they said words.”

But in Hollywood, being a bigshot is now obviously everything; if you have money, power, influence, and a high profile, you can do whatever you like…even callously disrupt Hollywood’s “night of nights” and turn it into your own personal forum. All of this, of course, runs counter to Hollywood’s regular support of humanist issues and its trumpeting of the tenets of basic human decency, where benefits are regularly held, money is rightly raised for charity, and where The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is gifted to someone at the Oscars each year for their “outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes.”

Those gruesomely over-paid actors and creatives in Hollywood often come out in support of various causes (often using the Oscar podium to espouse them, itself a noble and very helpful act), while at the same time gladly and laughingly accepting Oscars gift goodie bags worth (this year) over $137,000. We might be wrong, but we don’t recall big time environmentalists and cause espousers like Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep or George Clooney starting a campaign to stop this ridiculous, wasteful, embarrassing “tradition”, or suggesting that their fellow Hollywood bigwigs donate these exorbitant goodie bags – or, say, the proceeds from their sale – to charity. How about it, guys? It’s hypocrisy at its basest and most obvious.

“I’d start with, ‘Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home,’” firebrand comic genius Ricky Gervais responded when asked how he’d open the Oscars in the highly unlikely event that he was ever asked to host them. “’If you’re unemployed, for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn’t be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given.’”

And yes, these same Hollywood actors appropriately derided the mean, bullying, insensitive horror show that was President Donald J. Trump, yet then offered a standing ovation to a man who had just committed a mean, bullying act right in front of their eyes. “If Jason Momoa would have made that joke, Will Smith, like a bitch, would have sat there in his seat,” radio shock jock Howard Stern said in a hilarious, ahem, slap-down of Will Smith. “He would have said, ‘Thank you for acknowledging my wife, Mr. Momoa.’” A room full of humanitarians that clap and cheer for a man who has just committed a public act of violence? Against someone for making a bad joke? What a strange place Hollywood truly is…

The head initially spins, but then you quickly realise that this is the same community of people that turned a blind eye to the horrible actions of Harvey Weinstein for years. This awful man was feted, awarded and celebrated because the movies that he produced and distributed were often artful, high quality affairs that were popular and won Oscars. Sure, it took a group of very, very brave women to finally out Harvey Weinstein as a vile sexual predator (though it’s safe to guess that many in Hollywood knew about this behaviour too), but everyone had been fawning over him for decades, even while it was common knowledge that he was a bullying, mean-spirited, avaricious ogre who had destroyed the filmmaking dreams of so many.

“Well, I always knew he was an asshole,” Matt Damon said in defence of the monstrous Harvey Weinstein. But why wasn’t that enough? Why wasn’t that enough to stop people in Hollywood from sucking up to this horrible man? Why did people like Meryl Streep (and countless others) happily pose for photos with Harvey Weinstein when they must have known, at the very least, that he was an absolute arsehole of the first order? Why? Because in Hollywood, being a ruthless “winner” is celebrated, even while things like bullying, oppression and sexism are constantly called out there for the cultural and personal horrors that they are. The concepts of “kindness” and “inclusivity” are regularly trumpeted in Hollywood, while the actions of so many of its major players run completely counter to them in every possible way.

Hollywood is built on hypocrisy. It’s a sham of a place populated by phonies, narcissists, big talkers and bullshit artists. It makes great movies, and employs lots of great people that we all love from afar, but Hollywood essentially exists in a moral vacuum. It’s the sort of place that loudly proclaims that it stands with Ukraine, and then literally does nothing when a big, wealthy, powerful person publicly attacks a smaller, less powerful person merely for saying something that they didn’t like. Who would have thought that Will Smith laying a public slap on Chris Rock would have made it all become clear? Mmmm, only in Hollywood…

To read our wrap-up of the Oscars, click here. To learn more about alopecia, head over to The Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation.