So Jada made Will go up and hit the guy?
And I'm the one with the dumb take! Will wonders never cease.
Nobody said that. By no means is anyone excusing Smith's actions. He is responsible for those. I think it is a given though that he only did it because of Jada's reaction, especially since Smith laughed at the joke in real time. Once he saw Jada's aggravated look, that is when the switch flipped and he went up on stage and slapped Rock.
I happen to agree with Kev on this, but at the end of the day, there are a series of actions/reactions that we can't now and will likely never fully understand, as outsiders to the interactions between Chris, Jada and Will through history. ANYONE watching "This Is Us", and watching how Toby is trying to navigate what it is that Kate wants but is failing miserably, knows this. I went through this with my first marriage. You can't judge the "logic" of Will's actions by only looking at the glance at his wife. Their marriage has had tribulations and they've been upfront about it. You have NO IDEA if a recurring theme between them was Will's "ignorance" of Jada's needs/wants/etc. and that was his way of making a more general statement about their marriage. Or maybe the discussion was "well, my kid's friend is more of man than you are, Mr. Big Action Star, and you better start showing you're capable of handling me!" or something like that. We have NO IDEA, and making grand proclamations that "this is RIGHT!" and "this is WRONG!" based on things you don't know is ridiculous (and yes, I'm standing by that word).
At the end of the day, we only have broad principles to fall back on, and in general, this is why words are okay, actions are not. It doesn't matter if Chris Rock said "And Jada, is that cooter of yours as bald as the head? Does the lack of carpet match the lack of drapes?" or something equally crass. Will is STILL WRONG - broadly - for smacking Chris Rock ON STAGE, in public.