Once upon a time there was a memorable, impressive physical feat at the Academy Awards. It was unlike the disgraceful, faux tough guy display perpetrated at this 94th celebration of the Oscars by actor Will Smith.
It was bad enough that Will Smith won Best Actor over Javier Bardem. Will Smith is a good actor. Even a very good actor. But no match for Javier Bardem, who is a genius.
The nuances of Bardem’s characterizations of killer, Anton Chigurh, in “No Country For Old Men” is a masterpiece. The scene where he walks out of a house after his last murder, nonchalantly checking the soles of his cowboy boots for blood but never breaking stride, was strikingly brilliant. It impacted me so much that I wrote a Clinical Psychology term paper on Psychopathy focusing on Anton Chigurh.
THE OBSESSION WITH VICTIMHOOD AND SKIN COLOR
But in the moral insanity and intellectual impoverishment of the Left, it was de rigueur for Will Smith to win the Oscar. Smith is black. The focus of his movie is likewise a black person: the father of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams.
Leftists are gripped by a pathological obsession with “diversity and inclusion”. They piddle like an overjoyed chihuahua if they can “celebrate” anyone based on their skin color and fantasy of victimhood.
For those of you who didn’t watch the Academy Awards – I didn’t; I got the information from Twitter and newscasts because I’ve boycotted the Awards ever since they went “woke;” however, emcee Chris Rock cracked a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. Pinkett developed alopecia several years ago. For a year now she has chosen to appear in public with a completely shaved head. The gist of Rock’s humor was his anticipation of seeing her in a ‘G.I. Jane 2’ movie. Demi Moore starred in the actual G.I. Jane movie, in which she played a female Navy Seal-type Special Ops soldier who shaved her head.
Will Smith was so slow on the uptake that he laughed at the joke. Seconds later he barreled up to the stage and slapped Chris Rock. Hard.
NO REASON TO GET INSULTED
I tweeted to Chris Rock, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Jada Pinkett Smith that Will Smith owes Rock an apology for several reasons.
G.I. Jane was a good movie whose theme was overcoming odds, so where’s the insult?
I elaborated that Will Smith proved he believes violence is the way to handle disagreement. He makes blacks look bad – his slap reinforces the widely held stereotype that blacks are violent. He shamed AMPAS before the world. And he made the United States look like a country of savages
Furthermore, by appearing bald in public before a global audience, Jada Pinkett-Smith more than just invited public reaction. She sent the message that she is no longer sensitive about or embarrassed by her baldness. If she had cared don’t you think she would have worn a wig?
Coincidentally or not, a few hours after my tweet Smith apologized to Rock.
JACK PALANCE
In 1992 at the 64th Academy Awards, Jack Palance at the age of 73, impressed the world with his one-armed pushups when he accepted his Oscar. You can enjoy his delightful and humorous acceptance speech and outstanding physical feat below:
A TOUGH GUY ON SCREEN AND OFF
I had the pleasure of knowing Jack Palance in L.A. We had the same agent. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Palance was born Volodymyr Palahniuk. His father supported his wife and their six children as a coal miner.
On camera in his 57-year career which ended just 2 years before his death in 2006, Palance played mostly “heavies” as we call it in the industry: bad guys, villains.
Off screen he was even tougher. He was a coal miner. Then a professional boxer with just one loss before he gave the world the treasure of his acting talent. He fought in World War II in the Army Air Corps. He was a real man. And tall. Sexy. Masculine. Gorgeous.
But his real-life toughness consisted of strength. Not bravado. Not trouble-making.
He was kind, polite, down-to-earth. A jokester with a darling sense of humor. And he was highly intelligent! Accepted at prestigious Stanford University, he left just one credit shy of graduation to immerse himself in acting just as so many famous actors and musicians have dropped out of college – and even high school as Demi Moore did – to pursue their life, love, and livelihood.
Once upon a time Hollywood was a magical place. But the ”woke” culture has polluted or destroyed everything in its path. Hollywood is just the latest victim.
