An unscripted joke in bad taste which earned a hard slap across the face rescued an inconsequential Academy Awards from oblivion. In the headlines for all the wrong reasons last night’s Oscars has become a battle ground of argument between those who think Will Smith’s defence of his wife was heroic and those who condemned him for over-reacting to host comedian Chris Rock’s off-colour jibe.
Rock who appears to have form on disliking Jada Smith, joked about her hairless state (due to an auto-immune alpoecia). Smith then galloped to her defence before later collecting Best Actor for King Richard about Venus and Serena Williams’ father.
Richard Madeley, a UK morning show presenter said in his long career that Rock was the most unpleasant celebrity he’d met. ‘He was the most unpleasant, rude, aggressive, unlikeable human being I’ve ever interviewed on camera, without question.’
Rock, born 7 February 1965 10am Andrews, SC, has a confident, ego-centric Aquarius Sun on the point of a T Square to an ever-optimistic Jupiter opposition Neptune. He also has a powerful collection of Uranus, Pluto and Mars in Virgo trine Jupiter which will give him confidence but will be volatile.
His Aries Moon sits below his Ascendant and is unaspected except for a quincunx to Mars, and an out-of-sign square to Venus, which will make him scratchy in relationship to women. A sparsely aspected Moon can make for a sense of disconnection and immaturity. A not-well integrated Mercury can be hyperactive and one-track minded but again will lack a sense of real connection.
Where he and the Smiths clash is his Mars in Virgo which is conjunct Jada Smith’s 10th house controlling and influential Sun Pluto in Virgo; and Will Smith’s Uranus Pluto in Virgo.
Rock’s relationship chart with Will Smith is an explosive cache waiting to ignite with a composite Mars, Pluto, Uranus in Virgo square Venus, Mercury, and Sun.
With Jada, there’s a fated Yod of Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune Mercury inconjunct Saturn so there are obviously undertones of drawn-together-for-a-reason chemistry. Plus a competitive, argumentative composite Sun Mars conjunction.
All a typhoon in a teacup of no account.
And in an entertainment business that thrives and banks richly on violence, getting vaporous over a slap is a touch tiresome and sanctimonious. I doubt it will affect any of them too badly though they all have undermining Neptune transits in opposition to their Virgo stelliums in the next two/three years so there will be some slipping and sliding.
Add ON: Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith have been together since 1994 with two children and a recent tendency to overshare in public – often misleadingly about their open or otherwise marriage.
They live in a 27,000 square feet Malibu house that sits on 100 acres.
There are good connections between them with her Venus conjunct his Libra Sun and his Jupiter conjunct her Virgo Moon; as well as less helpful ones given that both have fairly turbulent temperaments from the Uranus Pluto of that period.
Their relationship chart is exceptionally close – not necessarily bound by affection – but by unconscious ties. The possessive composite Sun Pluto conjunction sits in the composite 8th house along with five other planets. Sun Pluto on its own makes for a transformational though not easy, bound-by-fate connection. The Venus Moon Jupiter conjunction will smooth round rough edges and give mutual support. Seven planets in the 8th will bind them together in ways they don’t understand. The composite Mars Neptune is OK-ish for showbusiness and a publicity-attracting duo but it suggests an underlying ego clash with each rooting for their own and not their partner’s success. And the Mars opposition Saturn hints at unfairness.
It doesn’t mean it will last till eternity though it survived a tempestuous patch from 2007 for a decade after. It will sag over the next couple of years.
Add On: Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which runs the Oscars with copious apologies for his behaviour. Quite what that means isn’t clear and the decision about whether or not to rescind his recent award for King William hasn’t been made yet.
He has tr Saturn just across his Midheaven moving through his 10th for two years and his upper quadrant until 2030 which should be a time of consolidating his reputation. Though he is beset by Neptunian confusion as tr Pluto squares his Sun/Neptune midpoint util late 2023. And tr Neptune opposes his Pluto on one leg of his Yod, which can be disempowering this year into 2023.
I still think the whole thing has been seriously overblown with faux outrage from the Academy – I know they totted up the murders and corpses, running into hundreds, in Game of Thrones which won multiple BAFTAs and I’m sure the Oscars total over the years won’t be miniscule either. The industry thrives on gun and fist violence – and the audiences lap it up otherwise it wouldn’t be made.
My eye keeps being drawn to Will Smith’s moon-neptune conjunction in Scorpio – which is a weak, unsure of itself placement. Then you have Jada with the Pluto-Moon in Virgo which is very intense and defined but … none of the Virgo moon people I know get how to actually do feelings.
Her statement on Tuesday was simply “It’s a season for healing” i.e. let’s all move on, pretend this never happened and fail to deal with the emotions behind it. An alternative would have been to talk about how she felt about Rock’s comments, to open up and be vulnerable about it. But of course Sun-moon-pluto in Virgo won’t do that; it wants to think it’s perfect.
My feeling is Will’s neptune-moon in Scorpio takes its cue on how to act (in the real world not film) from Jada. She runs the show and he doesn’t have the sense of emotional self to know better. The whole virgo-pisces dynamic is full of victim-saviour and his neptune-moon keeps rescuing her from the difficult feelings.
Good call @GnarlyDude, it explains why he was laughing then switched his reaction when he saw her face, right on cue. Then saw a picture of her laughing when he hit Chris so she definitely is calling the shots. It’s interesting too that many on other forums have been commenting on how actually the GI Jane remark wasn’t seen as negative but implied strong and sexy etc, as per the movie which Will and Jada must have seen, though I haven’t seen it.
The other joke is that he really wanted to hit her ex young lover so had all that pent up anger waiting to burst, and Chris walked right into that one.
Two movie projects also just been placed on hold so it now hitting his pockets.
Will’s mother said in an interview that it shocked even her as she’s never seen him like that. This is a mother that was always there for him so she knows him. So for her to be shocked like the rest of world, then it’s official that there’s more to it. That Rock joke was just a feather touch on a hairy trigger; he snapped!
Raising a non alcoholic glass to you Jennifer E~ to think this was all for the want of a laugh.
Did anyone see the atrocious hosting of Rebel Wilson at the BAFTAS? She made a “joke” about WS “. ..and all his wife’s boyfriends”. Horrible. The audience was shocked. Probably the Smiths were fed up of being mocked just because of the nomination and hoped Rock wouldn’t follow suit. He must have been aware of that comment and who knows what kind of conversations took place beforehand. Shame on both of them and I would hope that Scientology would have taught WS to handle things differently though I do understand his grievance.
I didn’t see BAFTAS and only saw that clip of the Oscars but Will actually laughed (maybe it was a nervous laugh) at first at Rock. When the camera went to Jada, she looked really sad which i totally understand. That may be when he looked over too and then did a 180 to then react the way he did. Maybe alcohol played a part too.
It’s worth noting that the camera went to Jada because she was there to be filmed – top nominees know they will be shot and commented to/upon .
And Will (and Jada!) knew she was there ONLY bc of him…so: Rock and a hard place.
“A” Fan with jokes. (Chuckle)
(replied above:)
Jennifer she rolled her eyes, I’m sure there would have been hell to pay at home later, I think he lost it. We have found out the police was there and Will refused to leave the Oscars. Chris did not want to press charges.
On Instragram Will posted after the awards “you can’t invite Baltimore (Jada’s hometown) and Philly (Philadelphia Will) anywhere, a cloaked reference to the tough inner cities with a high crime rates and a lot of black on black crime. I grew up in Baltimore and still visit to see family, I also have family in Philly and my ethnicity is African American.
His son Jaden posted “that’s how we roll” a reference to the violence.
Will did not apologize until the next day because the “slap heard around the world, will have consequences.” I do believe he cried after winning his award because he knew he had gone too far. There is no turning back.
I
@km, i agree. After my comment saw stuff on IG that paint a different picture of her. I.e picture of her laughing when he hit Chris and then Chris’ brother stage shout out to Will, etc. GnarlyDude above has sunmed it up nicely cause it does look like Jada wears the pants. We have been speculating that he really wanted to hit her ex lover boy but didn’t want to assault a minor, so Chris got it instead, or that Jada been in his ear about being a man and defending her in public. In any event not a good look for Will and now the butt of even more jokes.
Hi Jennifer ~ what was the stage shout out from Rock’s brother? (Just seeing Tony rock tweets as I google for intel)
Hi @”A”Fan
Tony said with some expletives “You gonna hit my m*****f****** brother because your b***h gave you a side-eye?’
It goes back to what I saw, Will first laughing until he looked at Jada.
Sorry Marjorie if i have overstepped by quoting with blanked out but obvious expletives.
Ah~ the side eye seen round the world + the cuss that wasn’t …thanks for the reply …
Spot on, Barb. Rebel is utterly charmless.
Hopefully this will all blow over. Will is a likable chap despite his moment of madness.
I like Chris too. Both talented and succesful men who had difficult starts in life.
Interesting to note that Chris Rock’s concert sales have sky rocketed since the incident.
I wonder abt King Richard uptick …
Do you really think Chris was just going to leave it at the lack of hair on her head? This off script adlib was heading further south in terms of Jada’s body. Because that is how Chris Rock rolls. They have both apologized so we will move on. BUT!
This idea that Black people and all women are supposed to “take it” on the chin when being publicly humiliated over and over is just another manifestation of terrible double standards. Sit in KBJ’s seat. Just how much of that stuff is she supposed to take? Black women go through this kind of stuff every day in workplaces, shops, public institutions and not just in the US. That her husband sought to protect her from further verbal violation is laudable in my book, because generally we sit and take it, then cry later.
Violence is not the answer, especially about a lame joke at that. Will overreacted to a terrible degree. So anytime some comedian (btw, Chris Rock is black, I guess people keep forgetting that) makes a joke about someone no matter the ethnicity, that they have the right to physically assault someone. It sets a bad precedent.
Will knows better, so does Chris if he knew that Jada had Alopecia but from what I’ve heard he didn’t, which I find it hard to believe considering they probably both run around the same circles. They both work in the industry and i’m sure Will could’ve talked to Chris backstage to lay off of Jada. But Will chose not to do that. Jada also hasn’t made it easier on Will spilling out their business to the public and humiliating both her and Will.
It is too bad this situation that Will started overshadowed his win. The Academy will not take his award no matter the statements they say, because there’s been worse offenders then Will Smith (Polanski, Weinstein, etc) and it won’t look good to take an award from a black man on top of that. But Will tarnished his legacy that night. He was not protecting Jada, he was being an idiot and his ego probably got hurt because Jada has spilled their business to the public and he just snapped. There’s more then meets the eye from his reaction.
Spirit, my husband had the same assessment, there is something going on behind the scenes with them.
So one guy slapped another guy for disrespecting his wife- at THE ACADEMY AWARDS- it’s not high church! Not appropriate behaviour in that forum, but these ‘hosts’ taking the liberty of having a joke at audience members expense has almost become acceptable. It’s embarrassing to watch, as the targets have to sit there and take it on the chin. Maybe Will’s actions, will highlight that this event is no opportunity to attack audience members dignity.
That joke that Rock said wasn’t even an insult. He was comparing her to Demi Moore, whose one of the most beautiful woman in the world. It’s like people are not even getting the gist of his joke and just reaching to be offended.
Also, the reason that comedians that host these functions is that these millionaires who play make believe and think they’re so important to the world, need their egos checked and need to be humbled. This is why Ricky Gervais is the best to host these snobby awards, he knows these narcissist think too highly of themselves for playing make believe and getting paid vast amounts of money.
Wonderfully on point piece in the Guardian from JR Hennessy.
“Given so many of us now take our moral instruction from things we see on variously sized screens, the slap heard around the world quickly became the world’s least interesting mass exercise in applied ethics and whataboutery. It was no longer just a bit of lurid celebrity gossip – it was an expression of everything good and bad in the world all at once.
What began as an on-stage biff between two celebrities over a disrespectful gag quickly became a Thunderdome for increasingly irrelevant arguments, as millions of users experiencing the internet equivalent of a sugar high tried to cram it into whatever their pet issue was at that moment.
In each post you can see an aching effort to establish some new turf on the unending torrent of online opinion, and to find some new meaningful resonance to an event that was, at the end of the day, an internationally broadcast moment of inflamed passions that had very little to do with the Russian shelling of Mariupol.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2022/mar/29/will-smiths-oscars-slap-created-a-storm-of-increasingly-irrelevant-internet-hot-takes
This is such a constellation of factors… planets, core issues from childhood being triggered in an instant… and God knows what else. This was so interesting astrologically.
When I saw the video this morning, I remembered my own experience of being the butt of a joke in a PUBLIC setting numerous times. By both a very dear older woman friend and by a boyfriend.. over a period of years.
It was always in public, always a surprise.. and always handled by everyone laughing uncomfortably.
Never did anyone stand up for me. It is deeply shocking and hurtful.
There is a kind of “trancing” that happens…. for everyone! No-one knows quite what to do.
And Chris Rock knows very well what he is doing… that he can get away with it.
It’s supposed to be humour, right?…. so it’s glossed over in the moment.
I DID laugh, Marjorie, at your assessment of “violence”… too funny.
Eventually, I did manage to untrance myself in the MOMENT of this humour happening. I was able to name out loud what they were doing and how wrong it was.
But it took quite awhile to unpack what was really going on and then to figure out my response in a very public setting. Especially as a woman.. being perceived as someone who “just can’t take a joke”. It was all so sticky and challenging to deal with directly.
Jada looked amazing. Chris Rock did nothing different in tone and style. There were others moments in the evening that people could have been offended by. Oh life. Not perfect. It’s so fun to perch on the moral high ground isn’t it! Anyway, the past week an extremely qualified woman has sat patiently while sub standard fellows have asked one inane or insulting question after another. Not to confirm that she is worthy to be a Supreme Court judge but, to score points to share with there Twitter base. She managed to get through that without losing it once.
If you or I had done the same thing we would be calling a lawyer to get us out of jail. Violence is never an acceptable response. Will does appear to be having some mental health issues.
Only if the person slapped pressed assault charges.
Jada has her Sun/Venus midpoint on her Pluto. She must be quite cutting with aplomb. Her Jupiter/Saturn midpoint is near her Venus in the 10th with her Saturn on the descendant. If their marriage is open, then she must feel threatened this. The older she becomes, the more it will be on his terms. She can’t fill fulfilled and maybe her father was unfaithful to her mother? Her Natal Saturn also squares he Venus/Uranus midpoint. Volatile and unpredictability must figure heavily in her relationships. Her Moon/Uranus midpoint also sits on her Pluto. I don’t know whether she came from an abusive background, or whether her present relationship is abusive. As there are some heavy aspects to have in her feeling/love life. At least she has enough money to treat herself.
Librans don’t always reveal their true selves and can morph into, or project their views onto others. I’ve been on the receiving end of Libran passive aggression.
But recently, I’ve noticed them being exposed in the most shocking way. Examples – Will Smith, Putin, Ioan Gruffudd, Alec Baldwin (sun or personal planets in Libra).
“And in an entertainment business that thrives and banks richly on violence, getting vaporous over a slap is a touch tiresome and sanctimonious.”
This.
Yes, the Academy released a statement it ‘does not condone violence of any form’. Right. Rerun thar 60 years of 007 reel again!
@Les
Right?! Lol
Jada is born same day as Lance Armstrong !!
Transiting Saturn crossed Will’s MC last year. Can’t beat an Oscar for recognition as an actor. But also that punch really showing a different side of him to the happy-go-lucky, fun, joking Will Smith we usually see. He also seems to be going down the plastic surgery / botox route which is a shame because it becomes a slippery slope once it’s overdone.
Was rereading about his memoir released last year and he says he witnessed his dad punching his mother out. Seems like he didn’t learn much about violence from that. His Scorpio moon/neptune is under pressure from Saturn-Mars-Venus in Aqua at the moment.
Chris Rock – transiting Pluto squaring his Aries moon – another one who needs to learn something.
Thank you to Marjorie for the Will and Jada add on. Making an already abundant astrological essay Even Better is inspiring.
My early take was Will was burdened by his expected win knowing there’d be some hell to pay at home. Seeing the Mars Neptune factor – plus of course the Jada/Rock Yod(!)- helps me appreciate the X factor in all situations.
Making sense of it beyond the uproar toward Rock and W.S. has given real relief. Your posts always enlighten, and often enliven, but as someone who has had a front row seat to violent outbursts IRL ( and found this event very stressful ) the occult view offered has expanded my toolbox. Opinion and emotion matter, but without deeper notes it just becomes noise.
My post above was meant as a stand alone. Apologies for misposting it to G.D. : )
Physical violence is always wrong. In his acceptance speech Will said, “Love makes you do crazy things” (said every abuser ever.)
Like the movie “What’s love got to do with it.” Jada and her entanglements and her red table podcast. It all seems to be a hot mess.
I do not condone violence of any kind. Jada’s father was never in the picture and only contacted her when she became ‘famous’ and her mom whose by her side now, was an addict and have birth to Jada at 15.
I guess money, beautiful gowns and mansions doesn’t solve anything.
Physical assault is unacceptable. Full stop.
Why didn’t someone stop him once he got on stage or cut to commercial like they did when he said he spit during his acceptance speech? Idk it was difficult to watch.
The slap heard around the world Lol. Will Smith is a grown man, and so is Rock for that matter. So for this to happen it must have really struck a nerve. If even Denzel had to intervene then you know it wasn’t staged! I feel for the guy. No sorrows for Rock. Even Comedians must learn tact.
But Will and Jada’s relationship still baffles me. Their compatibility just doesn’t add up to how it lasted this long.
“But Will and Jada’s relationship still baffles me. Their compatibility just doesn’t add up to how it lasted this long.”
Probably the reason why they talk about being in an open marriage.
@Aaron: The bigger problem with this is the effect it has on their offspring. Just look at their kids behaviors as opposed to Will’s first son. Night and day! A couple forcing a facade can be even more detrimental to a child than a split.
Open relationships are for couples who are “naturally” consenting to being promiscuous. As in they genuinely find joy in such activity as its in both of their natures; hence compatibly amicable. While Jada seemingly can, I suspect Will can’t based on their Astros. He and their kids are suffering emotionally more than her as a result. That Rock slap runs deeper than the joke that supposedly caused it!
As an aside, Jada being with her best buddy Tupac Shakur would’ve made more sense, had he been alive.
As soon as Chris Rock came out on stage he appeared way over amped up and I said to my husband he seems high on coke or some other stimulant. His “joke” was ugly, then Will Smith reacted with violence. I thoroughly enjoyed Beyoncé’s video about Compton and was moved by the tribute to Ukraine.