The misguided chivalry of Will Smith

In the moment before Jada Pinkett Smith’s husband strode onstage to slap another man during Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony, the camera panned briefly to her face. Comedian Chris Rock had just made a joke at her expense, and she did not appear happy. She rolled her eyes. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap. She sat ramrod straight, wearing a high-necked emerald gown — there was almost a genteel Victorian sensibility to her restrained displeasure.

Pinkett Smith’s reaction to the joke potentially contained multitudes: Embarrassment? Irritation? Self-consciousness? But instead of Oscar viewers focusing on how she felt in that moment, the narrative of Sunday’s ceremony became that Will Smith smacked Chris Rock on live television.

In case you missed the shocking and bizarre sequence of events: From the stage, Rock noted Pinkett Smith’s current lack of hair and joked that he would see her “in ‘G.I. Jane 2.’” From the audience, Will Smith first appeared to laugh, but the next frame showed him crossing the stage and slapping Rock squarely across the face. “Keep my wife’s name out your f---ing mouth,” Smith called out, moments later. A dumbfounded Rock replied “Wow, dude! It was a ‘G.I. Jane’ joke!” and a visibly angered Smith repeated himself.