Slapped Chris Rock
After the scandal at the Oscar gala: users insult the wrong Will Smith on Twitter
Will Smith (the actor) at the Oscars
© Robyn Beck / AFP
Not only Hollywood discussed Will Smith after his slap in the face at the Oscars. Much to the chagrin of a Twitter user of the same name who is now inundated with messages.
Will Smith shares only name and nationality with the famous actor – both are American. Otherwise, the two men have little in common: one is a Hollywood star, the other lives in San Francisco, does public relations for a video game company and a podcast. He has nothing to do with fame.
But after the Oscars, the actually unknown Will Smith came into the public eye: After the eponymous actor during the gala, the comedian Chris Rock was physically attacked after a joke about his wife and thus triggered a great debate, many users wrote to the not famous Twitter user Smith – thinking it’s the Hollywood star. The actor Smith doesn’t even have his own official Twitter account.
Will Smith’s slap and the reactions on Twitter
The blameless red-haired family man from San Francisco now got the reactions to the freak out. Some users wanted to express their support for the “Men in Black” actor after his slap, but many sharply criticized his behavior or even tweeted insults. “Will Smith is an idiot who wanted to put himself first,” wrote one. Regardless of the content, the hundreds of tweets discussing the Oscars incident have all come from a man who had nothing to do with it.
Will Smith, the Twitter user, therefore clarified: “I’m not the person you get upset about or happy about. I make my money from podcasts and video games.” Smith allowed himself a comment on his namesake’s behavior: “At the risk of people getting angry with me instead of the other guy, the world would be a better place if we stopped responding to words with violence.”
Will Smith apologizes for freak out
Will Smith, the actor, lost his nerve at the Oscars when comedian Chris Rock made a quip about his wife Jada Pinkett’s condition, which suffers from patchy baldness. Smith stormed onto the stage and gave Rock a resounding slap in the face. The 53-year-old – who won Best Actor at the gala for his performance in “King Richard” – later apologized for his freak out: “My behavior at yesterday’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” he wrote on Instagram. “Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s health was too much for me to take and I reacted emotionally.”
The Twitter user of the same name hopes the debate will die down soon, but is already used to heartache for his Hollywood namesake: “It’s happened before, but never on this scale. I’m sure it will in a week or two pass.” After all, the scandal has given him a wide reach: Since the Oscar gala, he has gained 100,000 new followers on his Twitter account within 24 hours.
Source: Will Smith on Twitter