Watching the televised Academy Awards a few nights ago, I was shocked by the actions of soon-to-be best actor honoree Will Smith in response to the smarmy comments directed at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett, from comedian Chris Rock.
I only watch these shows because my wife does. I find Hollywood people to be a generally pretentious bunch and Rock’s and Smith’s actions only buttressed my sense of what Hollywood is about. Sadly, I doubt that either Chris Rock or Will Smith will learn anything from what happened. And sadly, I doubt that the Hollywood culture, where everyone lives in their personal bubbles with no idea how the rest of the people in their country actually live and think, will change in any way either.
Imagine if a conservative entertainer like Mel Gibson had done what Smith did, he would likely have had charges filed against him and the decidedly liberal Hollywood culture would have critiqued and condemned him.
Don’t look to Hollywood for answers to our social ills. Hollywood gave us our last president, a smarmy celebrity who does whatever his impulses tell him to do, just as Chris Rock and Will Smith did at the Academy Awards.
