Was Will Smith trying to impress Jada or driven by Tupac jealousy?

Chris Rock is not the first show business host to push the bounds of offensiveness.

Fellow comedian Ricky Gervais is a repeat offender, having dished out insults at five Golden Globes ceremonies.

Rock’s mockery of Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness at this year’s Oscars was merely cheap, sexist, unfunny rubbish. What he said was distasteful in myriad ways but comedians, like the rest of us, have a right to say offensive things without being physically attacked. Will Smith’s slap made the difference.

Smith misjudged the situation. The notion that in 2022 a man must leap up and strike another man some distance away to protect a “his” woman is condescending. It reeks of chauvinism, defined as a male attitude of superiority.

In that way, it is as out of touch as the images of young British royals (another Will) greeting Caribbean islanders through a wire-mesh fence and generally looking down on them. The Times They Are A-Changin’, as Bob Dylan sang more than 60 years ago.

ALSO READ: Did Chris Rock really apologise to Will Smith?

Pinkett Smith is capable of standing her ground in any verbal contest – and could have done so if she had felt inclined. Some insight into why Smith lashed out may be found in an interview published in November last year, following the release of his book, Will, earlier that year.

Smith tells of the “raging jealousy” he felt over Pinkett Smith’s connection with the late Tupac Shakur.

“In the beginning of our relationship, my mind was tortured by their connection. He was PAC! and I was me. He triggered the perception of myself as a coward. I hated that I wasn’t what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that.”

Got it? He wanted to be brave, so his wife would look at him in the way she looked at Tupac. Rock gave him that chance at the Oscars.

Smith’s initial response was to laugh at Rock’s “joke”, until he saw his wife’s eye-rolling reaction. We know, because he said so last year, that the look on Pinkett Smith’s face is hugely important to him.

Now he could, in an instant, bury the self-perception of cowardice. No more Tupac (who was murdered in 1996). Brave Will steps forward to impress Pinkett Smith. But it was a terrible mistake. The above is mere speculation.

We can’t really know what went through Smith’s mind. But we do know the US has seen much public violence in recent years. And pandemic regulations have increased tensions. And Russia’s war on Ukraine dominates news channels.

Violence, and the potential for violence, lingers. In this climate, role models such as Smith can influence the behaviour of millions. His gracious apology, denouncing violence in all of its forms as poisonous and destructive, is commendable.

However, it won’t stop Hollywood’s downward slide, which was evident long before the latest Oscars fracas. January’s Golden Globe awards were drastically scaled-down amid accusations of racism, sexism, bullying and corruption.

There may always be a place for Tinseltown, but Smith has knocked it closer to the trash heap. The world is moving on from the golden age of movies.