“That wasn’t a display of masculinity”: Cheap Will Smith Joke Disgusts Fans at Golden Globe Awards
When Will Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscar ceremony, he became the b*tt of almost every joke and meme in the ensuing weeks. But soon even the internet saturated itself with the slapgate row and as happens with every new trend, people eventually got bored and moved on. But as the 2023 Award season began, it was expected that the jokes would make a comeback. Comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is set to make his Oscar comeback and has vowed to make Will Smith jokes during the gig. However, the latest slapgate joke by Jerrod Carmichael during the 2023 Golden Globe Awards flunked so terribly, it might make others wary of using it in their scripts.
Jerrod Carmichael made a tasteless Will Smith joke at the expense of Hollywood legend Rock Hudson
Jerrod Carmichael was this year’s host for the prestigious Golden Globe Awards that took place on Tuesday night at Beverly Hills’ Beverly Hilton Hotel. The comedian tried to incite laughter from his audience but one of the most controversial jokes of the evening led to gasps instead. He took a dig at the 94th Academy Award night controversy involving Will Smith slapping Chris Rock to “defend” Jada Pinkett Smith. Carmichael joked,
“While we were on commercial, we actually presented Will Smith with the Rock Hudson award for best portrayal of masculinity on television, so please give it up for Will Smith. Please! Please!”
The joke definitely didn’t tickle anybody’s funny bones, instead, it lead to controversy on Twitter. The supposed humorous jest was particularly complicated because Hudson was a gay actor and society was largely conservative and homophobic at the time, therefore he had to live in a restricted manner without being able to express himself properly. In 1985, he passed away due to AIDS. Carmichael had himself come out as gay in 2022, therefore the insensitive joke becomes even more questionable.
Jerrod Carmichael’s joke causes a Twitter storm
Twitter was taken by storm in the aftermath of this controversial joke. Several users took to their account to express their disappointment and disgust. One Tweet read,
“Did I mishear that or did they just cheap a** joke demean Rock Hudson and Will Smith after the heartfelt LGBTQIA boosting by Ryan Murphy”.
Another user wrote,
“When Jerrod Carmichael hosted SNL I thought he was the bomb, now he’s just bombing! That Will Smith / Rock Hudson joke was horrible!!!”
Yet another one wrote,
“Hey @goldenglobes bringing up Will Smith was not only in poor taste but hope you got the memo by the solo clap of presenter. Still a hard pass. And the ‘masculinity’ reference was very offensive.”
The 35-year-old is yet to address the trolling and hate coming his way. It remains to be seen if the comics are done with this joke or if we still got more to endure.
