Four days after the shocking events at this year’s Oscars, the fallout is not over yet.

Discussion with Stephanie Sy on pbs.org, March 31, 2022

The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences says it is considering disciplinary action against Will Smith. Author and film critic Eisa Nefertari Ulen, and Mark Anthony Neal, author and professor of Black popular culture at Duke University, join Stephanie Sy to discuss.

Judy Woodruff:

Four days after the shocking events at this year’s Oscars, the fallout is not over.

The Academy of Motion Pictures says that it is considering disciplinary action against Will Smith for walking on stage and striking comedian Chris Rock. The Academy also said yesterday that Smith was asked to leave the ceremony, but refused to go.

Chris Rock, for his part, said during a previously scheduled show last night that he is still processing what happened.

Many people and commentators are also still processing it.

Stephanie Sy picks up on that larger conversation.

Stephanie Sy:

A lot of people who watched Will Smith’s on-stage slap of comedian Chris Rock are saying the moment carried more meaning and charge than just a man losing his cool with another man who insulted his wife.

Joining me to discuss the deeper cultural context are author and film critic Eisa Nefertari Ulen, who is also a professor, and Mark Anthony Neal, author and professor of Black popular culture at Duke University.

Professors, thank you so much for joining the “NewsHour.”

And, Professor Ulen, I want to jump right in with you.

You wrote a searing piece for The Hollywood Reporter, in which you seemed to dissect each action Will Smith took that night in a deeper context of pain, specifically what you called Black pain.

Why do you think it’s important to see this moment through that lens?

Eisa Nefertari Ulen, Hunter College:

I think that any time we witness violence, we need to understand that from a place where we recognize the emotional and psychological state that’s driving this physical response to a trigger.

And Will Smith was definitely triggered that night. But I think, in the broader context of American society, we need to understand what was happening there, it’s really rooted and steeped in a 400-year commitment to Black erasure, Black marginalization, Black silencing, and the stereotyping of Black people.

All of that was present in a visceral, felt and real way in the infamous slap.

Read the full transcript and watch the video at www.pbs.org/newshour/show/slapping-incident-at-the-oscars-sparks-difficult-but-important-conversations