MSNBC Guest Claims Will Smith’s Slap Is ‘Hard to Explain to a White Person’
An MSNBC panel over the weekend suggested that white people may not fully understand Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. On Saturday, MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross discussed the moment and the reaction to it among…
An MSNBC panel over the weekend suggested that white people may not fully understand Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
On Saturday, MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross discussed the moment and the reaction to it among white people.
Michael Harriot, a columnist for TheGrio, said the incident was “about how Black people relate to each other.”
“It’s hard to explain to a White person what the difference is between an open-handed slap and a punch is, because they consider it all violent,” Harriot said.
He continued, “It’s hard to explain that everyone, really, has a certain threshold for which they will react in a certain way — whether it is say something to their mother, their sister.”
Harriot added, “You say some words to my wife and my kids, I am going to react in a certain way. We don’t know what that is for everyone. When you choose to insult someone in the governing structure, you run the risk of, if you step out of bounds, you don’t know how far out of bounds they will step.”
Meanwhile, actress Yvette Nicole Brown said, “On Twitter, a lot of us were like, ‘y’all sit this out for your protection,’ because when we need to have a conversation, we’re gonna have it.’”
She continued. “If you put your nose in something Black people need to discuss amongst ourselves, it happens. I am from East Cleveland, I would like to say that I’ve seen harder slaps at family Spades tournaments than what happened on that stage.”
“I am not saying violence is the answer…There’s a level of disrespect that every person can handle. Some people use their words, some people use their hands. It is what it is. In the Black community, we understand that,” she added.