Will Smith’s stunning slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars elicited dozens of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with many viewers condemning the “King Richard” star’s actions as “reprehensible” and “inappropriate.”
In the 66 complaints filed to the FCC in the aftermath of Sunday’s shocking altercation and obtained Thursday by The Hill as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, audience members nearly unanimously denounced 53-year-old Smith for getting physical with Rock.
After Rock cracked a joke about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, while introducing one of the awards categories on Sunday, Smith took to the stage and struck the comedian. He then returned to his seat before furiously hurling expletives at Rock, shouting, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—— mouth!”
The anonymous complaints to the FCC included one viewer who described being “traumatized” by seeing Smith “assault that other poor man.”
“I haven’t been able to sleep as a result. My child was also scared. I had to take medicine to calm me down,” the Illinois viewer said. “I think the Oscars were not child friendly and shouldn’t be allowed on TV if they are going to have violent assaults LIVE.”
While much of the confrontation was censored for American viewers, the episode was shown and heard in its entirety in many places abroad.
“This display was disgusting and beamed directly into our living room,” an FCC complaint from Connecticut read.
“I thought your agency was supposed to keep this type of violence and cursing off television. I hope you can bring sense and reason back to the public airways,” the viewer urged.
Other viewers railed not only against Smith’s “shameful” move, but also the FCC and ABC, which aired the 94th annual Academy Awards, saying the slap was the opposite of family-friendly fare.
“I was so offended and triggered to see Will Smith violently assault Chris Rock on a live family program like the Oscars,” a Florida viewer wrote, saying Smith and ABC “should be held accountable.”
“You go after Janet Jackson when Justin Timberlake ripped off her clothes and basically assaulted her on live TV as well. And she was the victim in that case,” the viewer said, referring to the singers’ infamous performance during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. During the show, Jackson’s breast was exposed, leading to more than 540,000 FCC complaints and a $550,000 fine for CBS and MTV that was eventually dismissed.
“This whole episode has me so shaken and ruined the Oscars and the very deserving winners due to your allowing this malicious activity on public airwaves,” that same viewer wrote.
The majority of complaints called on Smith to be penalized in some way, with viewers saying he should be banned from future Oscars ceremonies or arrested.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it began disciplinary proceedings against Smith for “violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct.”
“Will Smith physically assaulted Chris Rock on stage. This reprehensible act shocked my family and child, whom asked me innocently ‘Why did he hit that man?'” one person wrote to the FCC. “I hope Mr. Smith faces consequences for his actions as it demonstrates the wrong way to go about handling a disagreement,” they said.
One Oscars watcher from Missouri lamented, “Has our society become that numb and [with] no accountability to a crime being committed,” while an Illinois viewer told the FCC that “witnessing a violent attack on live TV with my family is scary and dangerous.”
A Los Angeles viewer implored the FCC to “ban the Oscars from [ever] airing again [to] save the American people from having to watch terrible, terrible garbage.” The same person signed their complaint with a message: “Offended by the Terrible Violence. Please cancel the Oscars!”
—Bob Cusack contributed.