Candace McDuffie, a senior writer at The Root, believes that Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars to teach him accountability for his years of jokes about black women.
McDuffie wrote an essay entitled “Chris Rock Still Deserved to be Slapped by Will Smith,” which was published on Sunday, just one day before Rock addressed the viral slap across the face in his live stand-up special.
In her essay and on CNN’s new morning show, McDuffie explained that Rock has made black women the butt of his jokes for years and needed to be held accountable for his words, which could incite violence.
McDuffie clarified that her argument was not about condoning violence, but about the consequences of words, especially those that make black women the punchline.
When asked about those who believe she is being “too sensitive” about Rock’s comedy, McDuffie suggested there is a problem with comedy in America.
She argued that using marginalized people as comedic fodder could lead to violence being incited and to them not being seen as human.
She also claimed that words in comedy have larger consequences as we have seen in recent years. In her opinion, what she saw in Rock’s Netflix special wasn’t a comedy but real pain.
She believes that Rock hasn’t healed from what’s happened and, instead of dealing with those emotions and feelings, is taking it out on black women.
In his live stand-up special, Rock claimed that the slap wasn’t actually about him but about Smith’s selective outrage, lashing out because his wife had an affair.
He even mentioned that Jada Pinkett Smith confessed to having an affair while interviewing her husband.
Rock still has ringing in his ears and watches Smith’s feature film, Emancipation, “just to see him get whooped.”
»Candace McDuffie believes Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith«
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