Disclaimer: The title of this article is a joke based on Chris Rock’s award-winning sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris.” PW Perspective does not promote hatred, nor does the author of this article.

Everyone knows there are two things you do not joke about: health conditions and Black hair. Well, everyone except Chris Rock, apparently.

Last night, at the Academy Awards, Rock made a joke comparing Jada Pinkett-Smith to “G.I. Jane” because of the actress’s hair loss due to alopecia. The joke was soon followed by Pinkett-Smith’s husband, rapper, actor, and now Academy Award winner Will Smith, walking up on stage and swiftly slapping Rock, telling him to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth. 

Of course, this caused major backlash for both actors as the public took to Twitter to share their opinions on the matter. 

Many people have criticized Smith for using violence, but Chris Rock’s words were the real violence. He got up on stage in front of a mostly-white audience at an event with a well-documented history of discriminating against Black people, and he commented on a Black woman’s health and hair. He went through every step, and he still made the joke. 

And let’s not pretend that Rock didn’t know better. The man has made an entire movie about the history and culture of Black hair. Even without the context of the documentary, everyone in the Black community knows how important hair is to our culture. For Rock to make a comment like this, not only shows a complete disregard for Pinkett-Smith and her health, but also a complete disregard for the entire Black community. 

Rock was wrong, hands down. Should Smith have handled himself differently? Maybe, but this isn’t about him. This is about the entertainment industry and the world at large continuing to disregard Black women and use them as props for cheap jokes. 

For the past week, we have seen Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson dragged through the most horrific Supreme Court confirmation hearing in our nation’s history. Republican Senators have asked Jackson ridiculous questions, including demanding that she define the word “woman.” No other Supreme Court nominee has suffered this absurdity in the confirmation process, and that is because no other Supreme Court nominee has been a Black woman. Calling Jackson’s confirmation hearing a ritual of public humiliation would be an understatement.

Ultimately, this is not a situation for the majority of people to comment on. The issue is one that few people can understand the underlying complexity of. Black hair is an important part of Black culture, one that has led to intense discrimination against Black people at times. It’s such a pressing issue that several states including Virginia actually have laws against hair discrimination.

As a Black man, I can’t even comment on the full intricacies of the issue, but the fact remains that for Black women self-expression and feminity can be tied to hair and how they choose to style it. Regardless of whether or not Pinkett-Smith has alopecia or chose to shave her head, her appearance is not for anyone to comment on.

However, because of Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia, there is another entire layer to the joke–a layer of ableism. She had absolutely no control over her hair loss, and in a 2018 episode of “Red Table Talk,” she opened up about it saying, “I was in the shower one day, and then just handfuls of hair just in my hands, and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, am I going bald?’ It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear.” 

Many are using Smith’s actions to reinforce the stereotype of the angry, aggressive Black man, but that is a completely unfair characterization. If Leonardo DiCaprio had slapped Rock for insulting his date, people would be applauding it as a chivalrous act. Smith’s actions were not the violent part of the display at the Academy Awards last night–Rock’s joke was. Unfortunately, the slap completely undermined Smith’s victory in winning an Oscar for his performance in “King Richard.” He used his acceptance speech to offer an emotional, thought-provoking apology, tying it to his role as Richard Williams. 

The two actors have already made up, but Rock will be lucky if a slap is his only consequence for a joke that should have ended his career.