The “slap heard ‘round the world” has come to define this year’s Oscars, which aired March 27.
Comedian Chris Rock was presenting the award for best documentary and preceded it with a monologue that included a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss, which is due to her alopecia. At first her husband, actor Will Smith, seemed to laugh at the jab. But then he abruptly strolled on stage and smacked Rock across the face.
And when Smith returned to his seat, he shouted twice for Rock to leave his wife out of the monologue, salting his demand with an unambiguous expletive.
Remarkably, Rock kept his composure and proceeded with his presentation.
Since that evening, everyone from social media influencers to sociologists to social justice warriors have been digesting, dissecting, and debating the incident. Critiques range from the obvious (that one man overreacted to another man’s provocation) to the ridiculous (that white supremacy is to blame).
So, for us, what should be a specifically Christian perspective? Remember these two things:
- It matters what you say
Words have a certain power to shape the moment. But not independently, as if words can live on their own. No, instead, words are the product of the person who uses them.
At this writing, despite a social media post that suggested what Rock might say and which was briefly mistaken as his own words, Chris Rock has not apologized for his remarks. Instead, he told a live audience Wednesday night March 30 in Boston that he was still “processing” what happened.
Should he apologize? Probably. But if he does, where do comics draw the line? Have we become so sensitive as a culture that we, literally, cannot take a joke?
The fact is that Rock’s joke was in poor taste and demonstrated lousy judgment in the moment. It wasn’t an act of violence on par with Smith’s open-handed slap, but words can wound, and Rock did cross the line from having fun to making fun of someone’s appearance.
If he had said these words backstage or at the dinner table, seeing the hurt in the family’s eyes, hopefully he would have apologized immediately. Anyone with an ounce of compassion would. Otherwise, he would have shown himself to be a heartless cad.
And that’s the point. Our words are an index to our character. The words we choose say more about us than the topic we are addressing.
We can debate this for comics, but Christians have no wiggle room. The Bible is clear about the power of words. We will be held accountable for what we say (Matt. 12:37), and we are commanded, without ambivalence, to evict from our language hurtful words, slander, obscenity, and lies (Col. 3:8).
In this sense, the Bible views the words we use as patterns of behavior. We are commanded to replace these old speech patterns with new ones that encourage, inspire, guide, love, give wisdom, and speak truth (Prov. 16:24, Eph. 4:29).
To avoid sin, Jesus instructs Christians to be economical with their words. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something you will regret, and the best way to stay out of a fight is not to start one to begin with (Matt. 5:37, Prov. 15:1).
- It matters what you do
Life is the culmination of our decisions, and all of our decisions fall into two categories—what we decide to do (pro-action) and how we respond to what happens to us (reaction).
And the Bible teaches that our decisions and the actions they produce also reveal our character. The Christian life is not about what happens to you. It’s about how you respond to what happens to you.
The week after The Slap, a video clip of a 22-year-old Smith circulated on social media. In the clip, Smith is a guest on the Arsenio Hall Show, and he pokes fun at the bald head of a band member. Comments followed and implied that Smith was a hypocrite. See, they said, you made fun of someone’s appearance. Why was it okay for you to do it, but not Chris Rock?
But others rallied to Smith’s defense. He was 22 then, they said. You can’t compare that clip to what Chris Rock, a 57-year-old man, said to Smith’s wife! Smith could be excused for youthful immaturity, but Rock should know better.
I agree. But then, Smith should know better, too. If he has, indeed, matured since then, shouldn’t he know better than to respond with a physical act of anger, in public, to what was clearly a bad joke? Shouldn’t a grown man have the self-discipline to sit tight, shake his head, scowl if he wished, and say to himself, “Well, we’re gonna talk about that later”?
In the moment, Will Smith made a decision. It was the wrong decision, an overreaction, and a mistake he will live with. And he has no one to blame but himself.
That’s why the Bible teaches to be careful what you do and how you respond to what happens to you. Our actions confirm our relationship with Christ (Titus 1:16, Col. 3:17) and our responses should arise from that relationship and the guidance we ingest from His Word (James 1:22).
And the Bible assumes that, on occasion, believers will get angry. Getting angry is not a sin. But it’s what we do with that anger that matters because human anger never contributes toward our spiritual growth (Eph. 4:26, James 1:20).
The Bible explicitly condemns outbursts of anger (Prov. 14:29, 29:11), and calls on Christians to exercise self-control, not letting emotions get the best of us (James 1:19-20, Prov. 16:32).
Instead, self-control is evidence of God’s work in the life of the believer (Gal. 5:22-23) and mimics God’s own character (Ps. 103:8).
One more thing
Before we get too far away from The Slap, we need to admit something. The uncomfortable truth is, we are partly to blame. Our culture, that is.
No, we were not there. We did not put the joke in Chris Rock’s mouth or stand in the shadows and incite Will Smith to retaliate on live TV.
But we egg them on. Celebrities, that is. Do more, be more, say more, act out more. And we’ll pay more to see it.
We worship them. We treat them as if they can do no wrong. We hoist them on pedestals, and we pressure them to perform to perfection and then publicly castigate them when they don’t meet our expectations.
We treat them as experts on everything from sex to green beans, consuming their opinions as if they were infallible.
But they are not gods. They are just foolish, flawed, prideful, sinful people. So, let’s stop acting otherwise. Let’s stop grooming their egos and watching their televised self-congratulations.
And let’s remember that there is only One worthy of our worship (Ps. 150:6).
A patient person shows great understanding,
Prov. 14:29
but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness.