The Internet Never Forgets: Will Smith
How this 1991 clip is making the actor’s situation look worse
Introduction
Even nearly two weeks later, actor Will Smith’s slap is still a hot topic. At this point, it is the biggest (and most memorable) moment in Oscars history, and probably the biggest moment in television history. A YouTube video of the slap, posted by Guardian News, has reached an absurd 92.3 million views and counting.
It all started when presenter Chris Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock poked fun at her bald head by claiming that she was getting ready for “G.I. Jane 2,” referencing a terrible 1997 film which featured actress Demi Moore shaving her head for the lead role. Smith appeared to laugh along, but soon after he walked up to Rock, open-handedly slapped him right across the face, then proceeded to yell at Rock to “keep [his] wife’s name out of your f — — mouth.”
With both the internet and other celebrities, the main controversy of the slap is whether or not Smith was justified. Some say Rock made a “outta pocket” joke and that Smith was defending his wife, while others say Smith was just completely wrong with using physical violence and that making such a scene only made the joke worse and more memorable.
Will did it before though?
Regarding the latter viewpoint, many also point out that Smith reacting so emotionally was extremely hypocritical. It is no secret that the internet never forgets anything — it will always dig up past moments and make you look really stupid. And that is exactly what is happening to Smith with regards to an old 1991 clip of him on The Arsenio Hall Show.
During the interview/chat with host Arsenio Hall, Will Smith made a joke on live television about the show’s band member John Williams, who was also bald. Here’s the full clip:
Smith clearly could be heard remarking:
“Like, he has a rule, the bass player? He’s got a rule: He’s gotta wax his head every day. That’s a rule.”
The worst part is after making the joke and hearing the audience’s awkward laugh, Smith states that
“Ah these are jokes, come on.”
So why was it “jokes” there, but when Rock did it it was not? Even though one was about a person who voluntarily shaved their head while the other had a medical condition and also one was about another’s wife, why was it seemingly justified that Will could slap Chris Rock but go unpunished when making fun of John Williams?
Regardless of how the argument goes, it’s just funny to see how many memories the internet has of Will Smith. The Arsenio Hall Show incident, the YouTube Rewind meme, and the Red Table Talk meme, the internet seems to just have a collection of Will Smith moments. Now with this most recent event, it may be the biggest and most memorable of them all.
