Chris Rock has tendered an apology to the Smith family amid humour-gone-bad remark made at the Oscars award on March 27.
In his statement, Rock said “As a comedian it can be difficult to understand which lines are to be crossed and which ones aren’t. Last night I crossed a line that I shouldn’t have and paid the enormous price of my reputation as a renown comedian.”
At the Oscars, night of March 27th, Chris Rock took the stage to announce the winner of Best Documentary. Things erupted fast as he made a now-infamous joke about Jada Pinkett Smith — Will Smith’s wife.
Jada Pinkett Smith sports a shaved head and this led to Rock saying, “Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2.”
For a movie that came out in 1997, G.I. Jane is gaining a reasonable amount of momentum, thanks to no other than Chris Rock and Will Smith.
Will Smith approached the stage and slapped Rock for the joke, but in addition to being the most-talked-about moment of the night, it also has many people wondering what the meaning of the G.I. Jane joke is.
Jada Pinkett Smith was not in the 1997 movie — G.I. Jane. When Chris Rock joked, “Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2,” it was purely a reference to her shaved hairstyle which was similar to that of Demi Moore’s in the original film.
In comedy, if a woman is bald, the jokes and references range from G.I. Jane to Sinead O’Connor and that’s literally it.
Bald women are often targets of mockery. Pinkett Smith seemed displeased for being singled out, mostly likely because her choice of hairstyle is due to her battle with autoimmune disease alopecia, which causes hair loss.
In his apology, Rock explained how positive comical references could be established without anyone suffering the aftereffects of such.
“Comedy is never about poking fun at or making lite of people with major ordeals happening in their lives. Comedy is about using real life circumstances to create laughter and bring light to an otherwise dark world,” he said.
“With that said, I sincerely apologize to my friends Jada Pinkett-Smith, Will Smith, and the rest of the Smith family for the disrespect and disregard I displayed which was unfortunately broadcast for the world to see. I hope that, with time, forgiveness can come of this situation and we can all be better, more considerate people in the end.”
