NAACP Official Denounces Will Smith Assaulting Chris Rock: Casual Violence Normalized will Have Consequences

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Paul Bois

Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP legal defense fund, denounce Will Smith for assaulting comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night.

In a tweet shortly after the incident, Janai Nelson expressed dismay over the fact that the audience at the Academy Awards appeared to condone Smith’s act of violence toward Chris Rock.

“People are unraveling in front of our eyes but the show must go on. What is happening?” she tweeted.

“I know we’re all still processing, but the way casual violence was normalized tonight by a collective national audience will have consequences that we can’t even fathom in the moment,” she added.

The Film Academy tweeted early Monday that it “does not condone violence of any form.”

“Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.”

According to unedited video and audio, the moment occurred while Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair, which then prompted Will Smith to storm the stage and strike the comedian in the face.

Smith walked back to his seat and shouted to Chris Rock: “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth.”

***LANGUAGE WARNING***

Moments after the assault, Will Smith won his first Oscar for lead actor for his role in King Richard, in which he played Richard Williams, the father of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams.

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