Will Smith’s speech: “Richard
Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, at this
moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this
world. Making this film I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who was one of the
strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya
[Sidney] and Demi [Singleton], the two actresses that played Venus and Serena.
Being called on in my life to love people and protect people and be a
river to my people.
“To do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able
to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you got to be able to
have people disrespecting you and you got to smile and you got to pretend like
that’s OK. … Denzel said to me a few minutes ago, he said, ‘At your highest
moment be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you.’
“It’s like I want to
be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena. I just spit
— I hope they didn’t see that on TV. I want to say thank you to Venus and
Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That’s
what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and
concern.
“I want to apologize to the academy. I want to apologize to all my
fellow nominees.
“This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award.
It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on
all of the people — [producers] Tim [White] and Trevor [White] and [writer]
Zach [Baylin] and Saniyya and Demi and Aunjanue and the entire cast and crew of
‘King Richard.’ And Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family.
“Art imitates life.
I look like the crazy father … just like they said about Richard Williams.
But love will make you do crazy things.
“To my mother, a lot
of this moment is really complicated for me but I — she didn’t want to come
out. She’s had her knitting friends. She has a knitting crew that she’s [with]
in Philly watching with — being able to love and care for my mother, my family,
my wife.
“I’m taking up too
much time. Thank you for this honor. Thank you for this moment. I thank you on
behalf of Richard and for seeing the entire Williams family. Thank you. Hoping
the academy invites me back. Thank you.”
In regard to the above question, I
can’t really tell. However, hear what others have to say:
Kevin F, Mad Monster Hunter (Wannabe
Comedian, Punk Rock Fanatic, Amateur Writer)
At first, my thoughts were simple: “Guy
overreacts to standup comedian making fun of his wife.” I wasn’t thinking about
race initially, but white supremacists were, and they’re all over this event.
If it were a White comedian who said what
Chris Rock said, would Will Smith have reacted the way he did? If Will
Smith was white would he have his Oscar taken away for hitting Chris Rock on
stage? Is this black privilege in action? So between Will Smith and Chris Rock,
which one will the Left call a Racist?
Last night, I claimed that it was simply a
man overreacting to a standup comedian making fun of his wife, and then a white
supremacist came at me in my comment section.
Anytime a black person does something less
than perfect on camera, it inspires white supremacists to come out of the
woodwork.
Yua Hana
Despicable. He spoke some nonsense and only apologized
to the academy and not to the man he’d just assaulted. Will surely thought that
turning on some waterworks would absolve him of his violent outburst.
The fact that this man was still given a
platform, an award even, just minutes after openly assaulting someone is
ridiculous. Moreover, his acceptance speech even received an ovation from ‘sympathizing’
people who seem to condone violence.
That was the most shameful part, more so than
the speech itself. But then again, this is Hollywood that we’re talking about (or
should I say Hollyweird). So commending assaulters is nothing out of the
ordinary here.
Steve Drawdy
I saw
a clip, not the whole thing but I thought it came off kind of cheesey basically
saying “I hit Rock because that’s what Richard Williams would do.” Especially
with the crying. A comedian hired for the event made a joke about your wife
because that’s what they do and you reacted like an ass. Don’t turn it into
what Richard Williams had to do to make his daughters tennis stars.
