Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’re already aware of what happened in the 69th annual edition of the Academy Awards. Chris Rock told a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith took the stage to slap the living hell out of him.
People thought it was a bit at Smith was even laughing at Rock’s joke before it. Then, it became clear that he was actually angry and done with people calling him out or making fun of his family.
But even though he’s only human and everybody has its limits, NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley thinks Smith was dead wrong for doing that, as he explained in his latest appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.
Charles Barkley Rips Will Smith, Says Celebrities Need To Deal With Hecklers
“I love Chris Rock. I love Will Smith. Will was 100% wrong let’s just leave it right there,” Barkley said.”I think I’ve been arrested four or five times for punching people, and I was wrong. It’s alright to admit you were wrong Dan… It was an overreaction.”
“Part of our job is to get heckled and people say stupid stuff to you, but at the time, I was 25-26, and I was an idiot for overreacting,” Barkley added. “Unless somebody physically comes at you, you grow up. I’m almost 60 years old now. And the stuff you do when you were 25-26 when somebody heckles you, you can’t do it. It goes with the job… Unless they get personal, you turn the other cheek. You have to. 90% of fans are great. 10% are just jacka**es who are just jealous and just mad at you because you’re successful. But you gotta turn the other cheek.”
At the end of the day, everybody will have their own take on this incident. But regardless of where you stand on this, one cannot condone violence of any sort, whether it’s verbal or physical. So, maybe they were both wrong.