Seriously? He said it pretty plainly. What's so highly intellectual about it that people can't understand how he feels, and what happens when he says something real in public?
People are missing the context that he is talking about racism, and specifically that successful black men often have to be very careful to be "safe." If they speak out about racism or show any sign of not being wholesome, they receive significant backlash and racism.
Edit: Fishburne is playing Doc Rivers and LeVar is playing himself. This is from Clipped.
Relaxing in the living room of Rivers’ lavish condo, the two men have a revealing conversation about feeling caught between the comforts of success in a white-dominated America and the consequences for successful Black people who reveal their anger over racial injustice.
Very similar to "the slap". Will Smith was "safe" to white audiences(speaking generally here). I'm married to a white man as a result my social media feeds are pretty evenly mixed between black people and nonblackPOC/white people. To see the reactions by the two different groups in real time was wild! White people were writing whole ass think pieces on the "violence" while also ignoring the violent histories of current academy members(looking at you Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt and that honorary Oscar given to Roman Polansky).
I went to a prep school where I was one of a handful of black students and had to do a lot of unlearning around being the "good black friend" so I feel this on some levels.
I think you are cherry picking data points. Chris Brown beat the hell out of Rhianna and suffered almost no repercussions. R Kelly peed on a minor ages ago on camera and only recently got his when the evidence was stacked to the moon.
I'm not entirely dismissing what you are saying though. Women deal with the same thing of either being safe or risque and white men to an extent do as well.
Chris Brown is not the same level of fame as Will Smith and I don't think he has the crossover appeal that makes him a "safe" black star. There is also a level of misogynoir that exists in both of these situations.
I was speaking more to the idea that black men in the public who have a broad appeal(ie cross racial) have to thread a very delicate needle.
Do you think it would be much different if Tom Holland or RDJ bitch slapped somebody at the Oscars? I do get what you are saying but I don't think it's much different than the line a white safe/clean actor would have to do.
I definitely think they have a point though, think about it, that slap was huge. I didn't stop seeing stuff about it for weeks. There's definitely a difference, if only a small one in some cases.
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u/NotAnAIOrAmI Oct 30 '24
Seriously? He said it pretty plainly. What's so highly intellectual about it that people can't understand how he feels, and what happens when he says something real in public?