All right now to the Oscars and the slap
heard of across the world. Power. Wow.
All right actor Will Smith slapped
comedian Chris Rock during the
live Oscars broadcast and it all
started when Rock joked about
Smith's wife Jada shaved head.
The actress shaved her head after
losing her hair to alopecia.
Take a look at what happened after
the slap and this is what aired
on some international channels.
Heat my wife's name out.
No, I'm going to OK.
Alright, and joining us live tonight to
talk about what happened is Martin and
I and he's the executive director of
the California Film Foundation. Martin.
Thank you so much for joining us and you
were actually in the audience live last
night watching the Oscars and you got
to see that initial reaction from the
audience when this actually happened.
And we know that all of her social
media sparked so many conversations,
including conversations about
her alopecia black women,
the impact in the black community,
but really, what I want to ask you is,
can you give us some?
Insight on what industry
professionals are saying about this.
Well yeah, thanks for having me Alex.
You know I'm still down here and all
day my phone has been ringing off
the hook with some of my producer
friends and director friends and some
of the folks you know the black folks
in the community who have expressed
some concerns about what this might
mean and and and what it might mean.
Now that you know so many people
are seeing what's happened yesterday
and I think that there's a good deal
of concern out there right now.
Her conversation that needs to be had
about masculinity and protecting family.
What did you mean by that?
Well, you know, as I've been
digesting this and talking with some
of my some of my industry friends.
It's pretty clear that this wasn't
just about that joke that this was
something that was deeper, and that what
we probably will have no idea about.
I think perhaps there are some concerns,
and there are some some deep seated stresses,
and I can only imagine when it's like
I know what it's like in my position.
What kind of stresses I have, and you can.
Certainly you know in the
entertainment industry,
in the in the television industry
we have an idea of maybe what?
Somebody like Will Smith is going through,
but I think my hope is is that this
will open up some opportunities to
discuss some of these stresses that
entertainers have and that they're
confronted with every single day,
so that maybe in the future something
like this could be avoided.
And another question being talked about is
did his actions over shadow his win again?
There's a lot of conversation that
this may have stole the show,
not just for those who are in front
of the camera but also behind the
scenes and the people who worked so
hard to put on this major production.
Yeah, and I think you know. Again,
the the concern is not just for real right,
but for other people.
Is this going to set us back?
Is this gonna set?
You know, I'm a Latino filmmaker.
Is this gonna set minorities Latinos back?
I think that this, personally my
view of it is a Tempest in a teapot.
I think that we'll get past.
This will go on to the next thing,
but my hope is again that
we have some long term,
some healing and that folks
can understand better about.
What what these stresses are all about
and where they come from and the pull
up the proper way to deal with them.
Obviously we don't want to teach our
kids to get up there and slap people
every time they've been offended,
or every time they feel that their
wives honor has been offended.
What is the appropriate way to deal
with this and and how do we kind
of like see into the future in
terms of how this can get better?
And my hope is is that there will be
some healing as a result of this and
and maybe some growth for all of us.
Alright Martin, thank you so much for
your perspective and we hope you have
a safe trip all the way back up here to
Sacramento 'cause it's raining, raining.