In a recent episode of Brilliant Idiots, Charlamange Tha God and Andrew Schulz add themselves to the long list of celebrities opening up and giving their raw, unfiltered opinions regarding the incident that shocked the world at the 2022 Oscars. With many publicly praising Will’s actions or criticizing him and sticking up for Rock, the Brilliant Idiots and their guest star, Kendra G, went into depth, giving their two cents about the situation.
While people jump to their own conclusions and make their own assumptions about what’s really going on behind the scenes with Will, Charlamagne explains that, “we as people judge [other] people’s totalities of their whole lives based off these bits and pieces of what we get,” leading people to try and piece together “what would make Will Smith snap,” although Charlamagne points out “that joke was 1% of why Will Smith went up there and smacked Chris Rock.”
“If you’ve ever read Will Smith’s book, if you’ve ever watched Will Smith’s YouTube videos,” Charlamagne continues. “Will Smith has talked to y’all so many times about feeling like a coward his whole life. Feeling like a punk his whole life. It stems from his childhood, when his dad used to beat on his mom and he said he’d never intervened. And he’s had to live with that forever.”
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Looking at the situation from a different light, Charlamagne even touched on the pressure Will has lived with since being The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and how being in the spotlight can truly impact someone’s mental health and well-being. “If you see somebody like Will Smith, at 53 years old, and they have a meltdown like that at The Oscars, on the biggest night of their career, on such a huge ass stage. If he’s breaking down and going through it mentally, what the f**k does that say for the rest of us?”
Keeping the focus on mental health, Charlamagne follows up with the questions, this time expressing concern for Chris Rock. “Who’s checking on Chris? …How do you think Chris feels in that moment?” While Charlamagne acknowledged the fact, “you can’t tell somebody how to react,” he also expressed that he didn’t think Chris deserved the smack across the face.
Check out the full Brilliant Idiots Podcast below.