BY ERICA GUSTAFSON, OPINION EDITOR
Throughout the past week, a wave has engulfed social media and news platforms regarding Will Smith and Chris Rock. On March 27, celebrities and big names gathered together to celebrate the 2022 Oscars. Within the celebrations, famous comedian Chris Rock made a comment towards Jayda Pinkett Smith saying, “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2.’ Can’t wait to see it.”
Though the room filled with nervous laughter, Will Smith casually walked up the middle of the stage and slapped Rock hard across the face. He turned around and headed back to his table with Jada. The room was filled with silence as the crowd did not know the slightest bit how to react. After Rock tried to brush it off and make things less awkward, Smith yelled “Keep my wife’s name out your f—— mouth!”
This single moment in entertainment sent media outlets and social platforms into a spinning cycle. Memes, copycat videos and other celebrity comments rapidly took over the internet in the blink of an eye.
I’m not going to go into what side I am on, just because it is not really any of my business. The thing that really gets on my nerves is why the comedy? Why the jokes at all?
People question whether or not Rock was in the wrong because of his understanding of Jada having alopecia. According to the National Institute of Health, alopecia areata is a “disease that happens when immune system attacks hair follicles and causes hair loss.” It continues to say, “while hair can be lost from any part of the body, alopecia areata usually affects the head and face.”
In all honesty, whether or not he knew about this is irrelevant. Why are these events filled with comedians taking shots at one another for entertainment? More than that, why are we so fascinated with celebrity culture in the first place?
I definitely am biased when it comes to this because I have never been one who closely follows celebrities’ personal lives. However, that is not most of the culture. I don’t see a reason or need for diving so much into celebrity culture.
Many celebrity figures over the years have commented on how intrusive it can be to be in the spotlight. One of the greatest influences on this is the paparazzi and media.
This may be a huge chunk of my degree, but I cannot help but agree that paparazzi have more times than not taken it too far just to get the “scoop.” In an interview, popular star Selena Gomez described the paparazzi in three words. Without much thought, she replied, “Invasive, violating and just disgusting.”
You may be wondering why I decided to go off on a tangent about the media and how they can be extremely invasive. It follows why I chose to mention the Smith and Rock situation at the Oscars and how it erupted overnight. Why do we enjoy the drama and digging into these people’s lives so much? It doesn’t help us with anything, so why do people find it so entertaining? I don’t think that there is anything wrong with following celebrities, but why are we so invested in the drama where they invade their personal space to see it.
