The big news out of the Academy Awards on Sunday, and something that is still being hotly debated, was Will Smith charging the stage and assaulting Chris Rock shortly before Smith won an Oscar for Best Actor and collected his award from Rock.  It was, to put it mildly, awkward even in an industry that has beclowned itself for years.

Reaction was swift.  Smith won the Oscar for portraying Richard Williams, father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, and Richard went on the record to say he was disappointed with Smith's behavior at the Academy Awards.  Richard is not the only person disappointed with Will Smith.  NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said of Smith that "[w]ith a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community[.]"

Not everyone thinks what Smith did was wrong.  Jaden Smith tweeted, "That's how we do" a few hours after the show.  Jada Pinkett-Smith posted an enigmatic message on her Instagram account, stating, "This is a season for healing and I'm here for it..."  That post is about as clear as a newspaper horoscope, but it doesn't seem to condemn her husband's appalling conduct.

Then there are the folks who believe that the whole thing was staged, that Will Smith and Chris Rock fashioned this outrageous moment as a skit.  My response to anyone who thinks the slap was faked is, "So what?"  I mean, really, is it any better if it was staged?

My personal feeling is that this incident is actually worse if it was staged.  It would be bad if Will Smith, upset over his wife's illness, snapped and went after Chris Rock for making an unkind comment about Jada's bald head.  That's bad, but at least it's understandable.  Anyone might feel furiously angry and possibly be tempted to respond with physical aggression if a loved one was mocked for her appearance during an illness.

To my mind, it's much worse if Smith and Rock sat down beforehand and planned this ugly incident for the "entertainment" of the audience, because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is right.  There are stereotypes about Blacks being violent that don't need reinforcing, particularly by Black men who are household names.  Will Smith, in particular, was famous all over the world for his movies.  Now he is famous all over the world for acting like a thug, attacking a man for making a comment, and then having the effrontery to accept an award from the hand of his victim.  Smith should be ashamed of himself, and if this was premeditated, both he and Rock should issue public apologies.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of Future Slave, a story about a 21st-century Black teenager who goes back in time and becomes a slave in the Old South.