One thing social media have got wrong is the contention that Smith was out of control when he went up to smack Chris Rock.
What I saw was a person in complete control at the time of the assault. It took him at least 10 seconds to walk calmly up to Chris Rock, and that was plenty of time to think through what he was going to do once he got there. He did not sprint up in a fury and take an uncontrolled, mad swing with a closed fist.
No. In that 10 seconds he made the clear-minded decision to open-hand slap the guy in the face. I think he calculated that in this situation—one in which he's an A list celebrity, who makes millions for the major studios each year, and who has plenty of supporters and fans in the audience—he could slap Rock to the face and get away with it. But if he smashed Rock's nose or broke his jaw with a closed fist power punch, then that would be beyond the pale and security would then be forced to react.
IOW he was in control and knew exactly what he was doing. He was using his sense of privilege to shrewdly assault someone, on live TV, in front of millions of witnesses, and in his estimation, it would go unpunished.
Then look at Smith when he turns around and calmly walks back to his seat. He almost does the James Bond thing where Bond does some terrific stunt then collects himself by straightening his tie as he leaves the room. Which makes me think the point was not only to show Rock and all the onlookers who the dominant alpha was, but also do it in a way that made him look cool, like he was playing a scene from Bad Boys or Independence Day. "Welcome to Earth, motherf**ker!"
And pay attention when he accepts his Oscar: This was not Kanye West off his meds and garbling nonsense, or Charlie Sheen going off on his Tiger Blood rant. If you ignore Smith's copious tears and the emotion of the situation, in excusing himself he actually sounds very coherent and very intelligible. Once again, this was not some babbling breakdown; he was clear-headed enough to gather his thoughts into an impassioned and really quite rational speech.
Yes, he was highly emotional. Yes, he is in need of therapy. But no, he was not out of control.
TC
