Will Smith’s Oscar “slap”- Who was Disrespected?

Over this past week I have listened to many people give their opinions about the 2022 Oscars and Will Smith’s poor decision to respond to Chris Rock’s joke.

One of the things that stood out to me was the long list of celebrities, mostly rappers and entertainers, who defended Will Smith’s actions. I won’t go down the list, but many of them applauded Will Smith, with the overall theme of, “DISRESPECT” and not being “disrespected” or not allowing people to “play’ with you. I got to thinking about this Respect vs. Disrespect thing and I must say that as an advocate of youth and the formerly incarcerated, I get to hear and debate this issue quite often.

And, I have a few questions for you to comment on:

1. Was Will Packard DISRESPECTED?
2. Did Will Smith DISRESPECT Quest Love and his Oscar moment?
3. Did Will Smith DISPRESCT his career?

My message to our youth, regarding this particular incident involving two, iconic legends is:

1. People make mistakes
2. Study your CONSEQUENCES and not ACTIONS
3. Violence is never the answer
4. Conflict resolution and effective communication is critical to self-preservation

The truth of the matter is that the joke was not an all-time great joke, and if Will Smith would have waited 15 seconds, the world would have forgotten about the joke. Hindsight is 20/20, but having a word with Chris Rock and communicating his issue would have gone over much better, in my opinion. The night was going to memorable, I just hate that it’s now memorable for the wrong reasons.

Will Smith is a tremendously, gifted talent as is Chris Rock. I pray they are able to resolve this issue and move forward with love and humanity, setting the right example for our youth. Let me know your thoughts.

• Former Inmates for Change- https://inmatesforchange.com