To my mind, Roxane Gay’s abrupt shift from defending what she calls the “thin skin” right not to be the butt of a joke to discussing Republican senators’ inappropriate confirmation hearing onslaught against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson points to the crux of what Smith wrought. Rosie O’Donnell linked Smith to Trump in a March 28 tweet noting that both powerful men get away with breaking the law: “We watched him do it – then like the trump years – we don’t hold anyone accountable.” In a subsequent tweet, she called Smith’s actions “a sad display of toxic masculinity from a narcissistic madman.” Bill Maher observed that Chris Rock evoked Jackie Kennedy when he set a dignified example in response to a shocking circumstance. I wish to participate in the discussion from the point of view of a feminist scholar who is, in fact, a literary critic. The title of Smith’s movie, in which he plays the father of Venus and Serena Williams, evokes a Shakespearean monarch he rose from Fresh Prince to “King Richard.”- Maureen DowdĪfter Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at last week’s Academy Awards ceremony, following the comedian’s “GI Jane” joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith-who has experienced hair loss or alopecia-the national conversation was replete with commentators, including Maureen Dowd, suddenly becoming literary critics who opined on the deep meaning of the incident.
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I could only look at the Will Smith meltdown from the point of view of that earlier Will, because Shakespeare has so many characters who precipitate a steep and stunning downfall: Macbeth, Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Shylock.