The Slap

Article by Craig Williams

I was one of many people who watched the 94th edition of the Academy Awards on March 27, 2022. The big story leading into this event was Will Smith. There was a strong buzz that Will Smith was the favourite to win the award for the Best Actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams, father to tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams, in the movie King Richard. He has never won an Academy award before.

At the Awards show, Will Smith was still the big story but not the way it was intended. I was thinking why did I not see this coming back in the day. I’m old enough to remember his rap albums from the 1980’s and I was a big fan of his, even before he started acting. It is amazing how one act in your life can change how people see you.

Even if you didn’t see what happened live, the video of the event went viral so it would have been very difficult not to see what had happened on stage. When I first saw it, I thought it was a part of the show. There was no way that slap could have been real. When Will Smith sat back down, he was furious and he began to shout curse words towards Chris Rock. I have never seen anyone look so angry on a live awards show, not even the Academy Awards, the most prestigious of them all.

Proverbs 15:18 says…

A hot-tempered person starts fights; a cool-tempered person stops them.

Will Smith casually got up from his seat, walked on stage and took several steps to get to Chris Rock. He still had plenty of time to change his decision. The anger overcame him.

Psalms 37:8 says…

Stop being angry! Turn from your rage!

Will Smith showed a lot of anger and rage on live TV. His reason for this was he did not like what was said about his wife. As wrong as his actions were, I can understand why he did it. There were many times in my life when people have said things about me that I did not like and wanted to do something violent. Fortunately for me, I realized the consequences of those actions was not worth the retribution. Normally a person would spend time in jail for attacking someone. He could not even say he was defending himself from physical harm. I remember looking on Twitter after the slap happened and the comments were mixed. Some people sided with Will Smith because they believed that is what “real men” do for their wives. Is it? Which leads to the next verse…

Proverbs 16:32

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

What Proverbs 16:32 says is very true. If Will Smith had exercised patience and let it go, the joke would have been forgotten and he still would have been the story of the night in a positive way. A lack of self-control got him into so much trouble that we may never look at him again without thinking about that moment. I’m sure Will Smith realizes the mistake he made and would like to take that moment back. Unfortunately, we can’t take things back.

We are very fortunate we have a God who forgives. Of course, I used this incident as an example of lack of self-control, but it could happen to anyone of us in various situations. Keep in mind men, if we are still alive, we can always look to God and tell him what we did was wrong and ask for forgiveness. In the court of public opinion, you might not be forgiven, but our God is a God of wonders. He can transform anyone like He did for Paul in the New Testament. Read Acts 9:1-31 for reference.

It will be a struggle to perform tasks on our own strength. We need God’s strength to succeed. The same thing can be said about fighting battles on our own strength. It will be hard to succeed on our own. It is said best in Exodus 14:14, where the Lord himself will fight for us.

Exodus 14:14

The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.

So what do you think? Share your thoughts and stories with us.