“That Jada and that Will Love”

The incident at the Oscars has roared up much controversy. More importantly, it has raised the question, how far is too far? Whether you think it was staged or not, I think it is important to discuss these two icons and their need for privacy and respect.

Privacy

This couple’s relationship has always been under the harsh judgmental eye of the public. I personally believe that the nature of their relationship should be kept to themselves, however it is their choice if they want to be open to the public. This reminds me of the incident with R&B artist August Aslina. That whole situation wasn’t our business. I think it was very unprofessional to talk about in a bragging way, or just to randomly drop that delicate piece of information in an interview. It simply wasn’t anyone’s business. 

I felt as though the Red Table Talk with Will afterwards was kind of forced. The public didn’t really give this family time to process this, and that’s unhealthy. As fans, or just observers it is important to set a sort of boundary to these situations. Their relationship should not be something that is debated on Tiktok or anywhere online. To restate my claim, IT ISN’T ANYONE’S BUSINESS. You can still see how much love they have for each other, that’s all that really matters, well for me anyway. It is important to remember that you don’t know the nature of their relationship, or what goes on behind closed doors.

Context

From what I could gather about the incident at the Oscars I could come to the conclusion that Chris Rock was most definitely in the wrong. The joke about Jada’s hair was uncalled for and as a black woman, very hurtful. And it simply was not funny, read the room Chris. As a man who recently filmed a documentary on the relationship between black women and hair, you should know better, be better. 

Jada has been very open about her alopecia. Alopecia causes hair loss from the scalp or anywhere on your body. There are many variations of this condition, and I’m not too informed on Jada’s state. She was also very open about her hair journey and how acting in Hollywood made her equate her value to her hair. I’ve learned so much from listening to her speak about this issue and I hate that she had to deal with that humiliation. She’s so beautiful and strong and I hope that this whole situation just rolled off her back.

My Opinion

The slap might’ve been deserved, but it could’ve been handled better. For one, I think it was very unprofessional to do it live on international TV. However what’s happened can not be changed. So, where do we go from here? I think we can learn a lot about respect and sensitivity from this incident. Learn from other’s mistakes.