Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Savage Response to Will Smith Slap

Everyone has an opinion on Will Smith’s Oscar Slap.

Of course the NBA’s all time leading scorer is going to weigh in. NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is expressing his own feelings on the matter, writing a blog post arguing that Smith’s actions are a “blow to men, women, the entertainment industry and the Black community.”

“With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community,” Abdul-Jabbar writes of Smith.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar does an excellent job of breaking down what happened. Snobs who think they're above this story should really eat some Humble Pie and read what he has to say. Smith's violence was more than just a celeb tantrum. https://t.co/UDM7Rt6Aoj

— Kimberley Johnson 🇺🇦 (@AuthorKimberley) March 29, 2022

Abdul-Jabbar argues the incident was more than just a slap to Rock, but rather a “slap to women.”

“By hitting Rock, he announced that his wife was incapable of defending herself — against words,” he states. “This patronizing, paternal attitude infantilizes women and reduces them to helpless damsels needing a Big Strong Man to defend their honor least they swoon from the vapors. If he was really doing it for his wife, and not his own need to prove himself, he might have thought about the negative attention this brought on them, much harsher than the benign joke. That would have been truly defending and respecting her.”

“This ‘women need men to defend them’ is the same justification currently being proclaimed by conservatives passing laws to restrict abortion and the LGBTQ+ community,” he continued, adding that Smith’s “self-serving acceptance speech” in which he talked about protecting his family in the same way his character in King Richard, for which he won an Oscar, was tone deaf.

“Those who protect don’t brag about it in front of 15 million people,” he explained. “They just do it and shut up. You don’t do it as a movie promotion claiming how you’re like the character you just won an award portraying. But, of course, the speech was about justifying his violence. Apparently, so many people need Smith’s protection that occasionally it gets too much and someone needs to be smacked.”

Abdul-Jabbar also argued that actions like Smith’s brings back a “Toxic Bro ideal” that can be damaging to young men, especially men of color.

The Lakers great left a crack of daylight for Smith’s redemption, however:

“I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others — by admitting the harm he’s done to others.”

Leave it to KAJ to articulate his point of view so eloquently,  that’s just what he does.

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