Finally, A Comedian Actually Got Cancelled

I’ve long insisted “cancel culture” doesn’t exist. Then Will Smith smacked Chris Rock and changed the game.

Behold its power. Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

Friends: In the past year, I have used this space, often, to opine on “cancel culture.” You’ve heard me say that it’s not real; that it’s a distraction from more serious issues; that “cancellation” is just a word that selfish people use to decry disagreement, or criticism, or any attempt to hold them accountable for hurtful behavior. You’ve heard me say this, particularly, about stand-up comedians, who are for some reason all convinced that their own personal rape jokes and gay jokes are the banner under which Free Speech must stand or fall.

You’ve heard it, and now I have to stop saying it, because here, now, in the year 2022, Will Smith smacked Chris Rock across the face for telling a mean joke about his wife. Now, everything has changed.

The slap has been endlessly covered, and odds are you already know most of the relevant context: It happened at the Oscars, obviously. Chris Rock made fun of Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, calling her “GI Jane 2.” Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia — she’s bald; she did not lose her hair on purpose — which made the joke needlessly cruel.

Was it the meanest joke that’s ever been told at the Oscars? No, and Will Smith standing up to slap the salt out of Chris Rock was not the cruelest thing ever done by an audience member. For that, you can look to this footage of basically every actor or director you respect giving a standing ovation to child rapist Roman Polanski.

With that necessary perspective restored, we can admit the obvious: A comedian making a mean-spirited joke about a woman’s body (which happens all the time), only to get welcomed to earth by America’s most unthreatening movie star mere moments later (which basically never happens), is actually extremely funny. Unlike, say, the GI Jane joke, which sucked.