A writer has sensationally claimed on live TV that Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars, penning an essay explaining why only one day after the comedian dropped his live Netflix special.
The Root senior writer Candace McDuffie published an essay on Sunday entitled Chris Rock Still Deserved to be Slapped by Will Smith, less than 24 hours after his special that dealt with the now infamous moment at the 2022 Academy Awards.
She then doubled down on her views on CNN to a rather taken aback host Don Lemon.
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"It's not so much about being slapped as it's about accountability, right,' she told Lemon.
"He has made black women specifically the butt of his jokes for years and he's finally being held accountable.
"So I feel this kind of sets the precedent going forward that people will be more careful about how they treat black women."
Lemon warned the writer that people may put an intense focus on things that she says, before asking: "Is Candace McDuffie condoning violence, saying that Will Smith should have slapped Chris Rock?"
She said in the 'literal sense' her words seemed a 'bit much'.
In the words of Brooklyn 99's Jake Peralta: Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool Cool. No doubt.
In her piece for The Root, she elaborated.
"It’s not about condoning violence, but words—especially ones that make black women the punchline—should have consequences," she wrote.
She continued on CNN: "Honestly, sitting here, you know, calling Jada out of her name, making fun of her hair condition, talking about her alopecia, words can be violent as well.
"And as we see black girls and women, we suffer abuse at higher rates in this country, so continuing to humiliate us only perpetuates this."
She added: "I think it speaks to a larger American pattern of using marginalised people as comedic fodder."
Despite previously noting her own words were 'a bit much', she went on to tell Lemon: "It can also lead to violence being incited. It can lead to [black women] being not seen as human.
"Words in comedy have larger consequences as we've seen in recent years."
She also claimed the special by Rock, 58, wasn't comedy at all, but thinly masked pain.
And we can sort of see why as everyone in the auditorium, as well as those watching at home, were left gobsmacked after what happened during the glitzy ceremony in 2022.
Rock was set to read the nominees for the next award when he made a little jab at Smith's wife Jada, suggesting she looked like 'GI Jane'.
Smith clearly didn't take kindly to the joke so he walked onto the stage and shockingly slapped Rock before calmly walking back to his seat.
"Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me," Rock said to everyone, seemingly rattled by the confrontation.
Although Smith initially appeared amused, he then yelled back: "Keep my wife's name out your f**king mouth."
Chris awkwardly attempted to segue into the next segment, but not before saying: "That was the greatest night in the history of television."
Topics: Will Smith, Chris Rock, Oscars, Celebrity
Rachel Lang