DNA Special: Oscars slap incident scripted to save declining viewership?

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Mar 29, 2022, 06:47 AM IST

In the last few years, the viewership of the Oscar Awards has been on the decline.

Hollywood actor Will Smith hit famous American comedian Chris Rock. The incident took place during the Oscar Awards, cinema's biggest stage, when Chris Rock joked about the baldness of Will Smith's wife. Hearing this, Will Smith got up from his chair, went on the stage and slapped Chris Rock.

You must have heard of the Oscar Awards. In our country, often when people like a film on the theatre, they say that it should get an Oscar. This whole incident took place during the honour ceremony of the same Oscar Award, officially called the Academy Awards. Now that it is the world's most prestigious film award and is broadcast live on television in more than 200 countries, this slap started trending all over the world.

The incident took place when a famous American actor and comedian, Chris Rock (Chris Rock), came on stage to give the best documentary award and during this time he said something about Smith's wife sitting in front of the stage.

Chris Rock told Will Smith's wife that he is looking forward to watching G.I. Jane Two. G.I. Jane is the name of a Hollywood film that came out in the year 1997. Actress Demi Moore, who played the lead role in the film, was shown bald. And Will Smith's wife is also struggling with a disease that caused her to go bald. That is, Chris Rock compared Will Smith's wife to a character in this film.

Angry with this, Will Smith slapped him. And later, when he sat back in his chair, he told Chris Rock that he should not even take his wife's name.

At the same honour ceremony where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, he was awarded the Oscar Award for Best Actor for last year's film King Richard. However, we think that the biggest award of this year's Oscar Awards has been given to Chris Rock in the form of this slap and this award is going to be given by Will Smith. And today, more than the Oscar Awards, this slap is being talked about all over the world.

A lot of people are also saying that this incident can be planned. That is, maybe like a movie, the script of this slap was already written and Will Smith and Chris Rock did what they were asked to do. Because since this incident, there has been a buzz around the Oscar Awards and it is expected to increase its viewership as well. You can understand this from some statistics.

In the last few years, the viewership of the Oscar Awards has declined historically. In 1998, this honour ceremony was watched by 55 million people on TV worldwide. But since then, this viewership has been declining. And in the year 2021, only one crore people watched this event live on TV.

And it was the lowest viewership in the history of the Oscar Awards. Secondly, this viewership happened when people were in their homes because of Covid. This shows that people's interest in these awards has decreased. And maybe that's why some people are calling this slap scripted. Because after this incident, Will Smith also apologized crying and said that he did not want to behave like this.

The great thing is that the organizers of the Oscar Awards have neither taken any action against Will Smith nor have they withdrawn the Best Actor award he received. In fact, Will Smith was seen laughing and taking pictures after the ceremony.

However, it may also be that the incident happened suddenly and Will Smith could not tolerate the humiliation of his wife. His wife has a disease called Alopecia (alopecia). This is also known as hair loss in common parlance. Around 150 million people around the world are struggling with this disease and in this disease, all the hair of the person's head is lost. That is, he becomes bald. In the case of women, this disease becomes a matter of embarrassment. So, what Chris Rock said for Will Smith's wife cannot be considered right. And for that, they must be criticized.