By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
This week, emotions rallied high on social media in reaction to actor Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars over an offhanded joke about Smith’s wife, actress Jada Pinkett.
Like many tuned-in – live or late – on the biggest night in Hollywood, I was stunned for several seconds after that slap heard around the world. Nobody could have confirmed what we all saw any better than Rock himself: “Will Smith just smacked the sh*t out of me!”
Netizens were split between those who saw chivalry in Smith defending the honor of his lady and those horrified by his violent outburst at a fellow actor whose job really was to poke fun at industry stars on such occasions.
On the one hand, the celebrity couple’s very public and publicized lives should not have made either of them so onion-skinned. Yet, on the other hand, it might never be right to make fun of a person’s medical condition or any consequence of it.
But finding fault on either party does not help the situation, much less rationalizes things for any of us. It was definitely NOT “uh… the greatest night in television.” Smith had to apologize to Rock and Rock to Pinkett. Repentance and forgiveness – however preachy this may sound coming from me this Lenten season – is the only acceptable post-script moving forward.
Unless maybe, in the next Oscars, they cast Mike Tyson as the presenter dishing out these edgy jokes.
* * *
Over here, I do feel the snap of that smack when we were all slapped last Tuesday with a new round of oil price hikes. But, unlike boxing, this barrage of hiking prices of petrol is fearfully looking to go beyond 12 rounds.
Subsidies offered by the government are a pittance even for the poorest, most inactive soul and even that little rescue fund seems to take forever. The “ayuda” system of distribution has already been in place since the pandemic, yet the authorities pore over it again, trapping the long-overdue cash aid in this red tape from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and of Transportation (DOTr). That’s a double-smack for every Juan and Juana.
And what should scare us more is that three weeks from now, we are likely to be mauled by costlier price tags for 33 of the so-called basic necessities and prime commodities or BNPCs, which include canned sardines, milk, and canned meat. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez confirmed that the DTI is already deciding on requests for price adjustments of BNPCs.
These may not be a slap heard worldwide, but it’s absolutely a barrage of them that truly hurts.
* * *
SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com