Chris should get more credit for being solid as a Rock

You get slapped on a live broadcast. What do you do? You’re not starring in the Real Housewives of New Jersey or Bigg Boss. You’re hosting the Oscars. You’re a comedian. You make jokes for a living. Everyone knows you make jokes for a living. You also suffer from NVLD (non-verbal language disorder) and you’re an African-American man hosting a ceremony that has been classically dominated by white individuals. What do you do?

You smile, you keep smiling and you quip: “That was, uh, the greatest night in the history of television.”

The comedian didn’t file a report against Will Smith. Smith did not apologize to Rock during his acceptance speech for King Richard but apologized to Rock later via his Instagram handle. Many celebrities and commentators applauded Rock for his composure and believed Smith should not have been allowed the platform after behaving this way with Rock. Physical assault, for anyone who’s not a celebrity, would have had very different consequences.

The dominant narrative has been about this alone: is assault justified in any way or are comedians beyond reproach? While both debates are credible and pave way for healthy discussions, Rock’s ability to stay cool under pressure has not been a part of many discourses. What does it take for someone to handle that sort of an attack, to stand smiling and gracefully move to the rest of the show? He seemed shaken for a moment when he fumbled the words between ‘documentary’ and ‘award’ but that was about it. He has made no comment online even though his Instagram is flooded with positive comments from his friends and fans.

When you’re on that level of a spotlight, when you are standing as a comedian to do a job that others have already done many times before (don’t we all remember how irreverent Ricky Gervais has always been?), you don’t expect to be assaulted. Similarly, turning the prestigious academy stage into a bar brawl is so unbelievably outlandish that many, including myself, thought this whole stunt was scripted. So how did Chris Rock manage to stay so graceful under pressure? And why is that not a subject of discussion a whole lot more? Yes, he is praised for his grace, but what enables a man in that position to face this with composure and gravitas?