Amul’s Doodle On Oscar Incident; A Flawed Humour?!

Initially, after witnessing the iconic movie star Will Smith slapping comic legend Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night, everyone thought it was some kind of planned stunt. But turns out, the slap heard around the world is an impromptu and unpleasant eruption, eventually leaving the two in scrutiny. The incident is one of the biggest highlights of Oscars 2022.

Smith ostensibly struck the comedian in defence of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, after Rock joked about her shaved head, which is a result of alopecia, a disease that Pinkett Smith has openly discussed earlier. The world is divided today pointing out how one should not believe in resorting to violence in the face of insults. At the same time, the wrongness of Smith’s behaviour does not make Rock’s joke the right thing.

While the incident left everyone discussing, Amul came up with a quirky doodle, as always. In it, Amul recreated the unfortunate moment from the Oscars with the text “Chris rocked by Slap. Snack, Not Smack.” While sharing the post, Amul wrote, “#Amul Topical: Actor strikes MC at Oscars!” The post by Amul looks dispensable for now, especially in this heat of the moment. Smith’s actions have been already, interpreted in multiple ways and least do we want this doodle to ignite opinions further.

Will Smith’s attack is condemned by fellow comedians, calling it direct violence against them. Others have defended Smith for taking a stand against his wife. But whatever happened, both of them failed to learn how the boundaries are the cut-off point between what a person finds funny and endearing, and what they find hurtful and inappropriate. In addition, Amul’s fun post is adding mixed reactions by trying to bring out humour from the two men’s pain and anger.

Meanwhile, The Academy had released a statement regarding the viral incident mentioning that they do not condone violent behaviour. Sharing the statement on Twitter, the official account of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said, “The Academy 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.”