Uproar over slap at the Oscars
It was the defining moment of the Academy Awards ceremony on Monday: actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage for making a joke about Smith's wife. Commentators criticise this show of brutal machoism.
A truly bad example
De Volkskrant criticises all expressions of understanding for Will Smith's behaviour:
“Physical violence has nothing to do with chivalry. This is called toxic masculinity: a man exploding because his honour has been offended (through his wife) and not being able to control himself. What are the millions of people who look up to the hugely successful, likeable and powerful Smith supposed to think? That this is the way for a man to deal with something like this? ... The Academy would do well not to invite Smith next year. To send a signal that even powerful men can't get away with this kind of thing. ... That would be film history.”
Even in L.A. the patriarchy still rules
This incident has made it clear that even in many women's minds male supremacy is more established than might have been thought, comments columnist Nagehan Alçı in Habertürk:
“The reactions to Will Smith's slap are proof that a large number of us women have still not been able to dismantle the structures of patriarchal ideology that occupy our souls. ... That is painful. ... Unfortunately, yesterday in Los Angeles, despite all the noise, the idea of a world in which rich white men - and men in general - rule triumphed once again.”