The Devil Didn't Make Will Slap Chris Rock

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When Will Smith—full of tears—accepted his long-awaited Oscar for best actor, he shared what Denzel Washington said to him minutes before. “At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.” I normally agree with that, but what happens when you’re working in concert with him?

Chris Rock was presenting an award at the Oscars and told a typical G.I. Jane joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Will’s wife. Will initially laughed, but Jada was visibly upset. Perhaps it could have been because of her alopecia (the condition that caused her baldness) or being indignant that Chris made fun of her (like he did when she boycotted the Oscars for being “so white”). Regardless, Will saw her reaction and made a conscious decision to march up to the stage and slap Chris Rock in the face. When he returned to his seat, he yelled profanities at the comedian and commanded he keep his wife’s name out of his mouth.

The Academy claims it asked Smith to leave but he refused (though other sources told TMZ Smith was told he could stay). Not too long after, Smith received his award and invoked the name of God. “In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world.”

First things first, God did not call Smith to slap Chris Rock. I think Smith would agree with that since he has now apologized and resigned from the Academy. He believes God is calling him to be a protector and he wants to be a vessel of love.

Who is the “god” calling Smith? Rumors have swirled about the actor and his wife being Scientologists, after actress Leah Remini, who left and exposed the church, claimed they were. Jada Pinkett Smith admitted to taking classes from the church, but never committing, and seemed to later come to an understanding with Remini.

The Smiths famously have an open marriage. On Jada’s Red Table Talk, she referred to a relationship with one of her son’s friends as an “entanglement.”

In an interview with GQ, Will Smith addressed his open marriage and talked about having an “intimacy coach” who helped him break out of his guilt, brought on by his Christian upbringing. “What [the coach] was doing was essentially cleaning out my mind, letting me know it was okay to be me and be who I was,” he said. “It was okay to think Halle was fine. It doesn’t make me a bad person that I’m married and I think Halle is beautiful. Whereas in my mind, in my Christian upbringing, even my thoughts were sins. That was really the process that [the coach] worked me through to let me realize that my thoughts were not sins and even acting on an impure thought didn’t make me a piece of s***.”

He also mentioned in the interview that Jada never believed in conventional marriage and had a different upbringing with “an unconventional relationship.”

On Red Table Talk, Jada once spoke about how her grandmother taught her to pleasure herself, so she’d never believe it was something a man had to give her—at the tender age of nine! She expressed this with her mother and daughter, Willow, who offered vocal support.

Will revealed the couple had intense arguments over monogamy for years. He recalled one argument ending with their 10-year-old daughter begging them to stop.

Ultimately, the couple decided to have an open marriage and be open about it to the public. They even joked on Red Table Talk with a fist bump, “Bad marriage for life,” in reference to his famous film franchise.

In regards to Smith’s Christian upbringing, God calls the man to love his wife as Christ loved the church. If necessary, he has to put himself on the line, just as Christ gave himself up for the church (Ephesians 5:25). God also calls for men to be the spiritual heads of their household. He should not have allowed his marriage to be open. And if that was never on the table for Jada, he shouldn’t have allowed himself to be unequally yoked.

It's not a sin to acknowledge that Halle Berry is a beautiful woman. But when faced with temptation, you have to flee. When an adulterous woman came onto Joseph, he ran out of his coat! Falling into temptation doesn’t make you a terrible person. It means you’re a sinner in need of a savior, but you can’t give up. When people sought to stone a woman for her sin of adultery, Jesus famously said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” (John 8:7). But he also told her, “Go and sin no more.”

As a Christian, you have to crucify your flesh daily. Jesus said in Matthew 16, if you want to be his disciple, you have to deny yourself. Perhaps Will is denying himself, but that’s not to appease God. That’s to appease Jada.

As a child, Jada was taught by a maternal authority figure to “self-pleasure,” so she wouldn’t fall into the mindset that if a man sexually pleasured her that it was from him. Yet when her marriage was on the rocks, she sought out a relationship with her son’s friend, August Alsina, because she, “Just wanted to feel good.” When she met August, Jada was reportedly 43 years old while August was 22.

Sexual debauchery has not led to a better world. Jada’s “entanglement,” publicly shamed Will Smith and turned him into a laughingstock. Though some have praised Will’s slap as “defending his wife’s honor,” the reaction has mostly been negative and tarnished the actor’s image. From the footage we’ve seen, Jada didn’t make a move to soothe her husband to protect his image. She allowed Will to act like a fool.

If Will Smith wants to be a “vessel of love,” perhaps he should brush up on 1 Corinthians 13. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy or boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Hindsight is always 20-20, but slapping Chris Rock over a joke was not the way to protect his wife, his family, or his reputation. Biblical love is not a feeling to indulge in the blip of a second. It is a commitment to positive action.

Denzel Washington spoke out after the Oscar slap and said, “Who are we to condemn? I don’t know all the ins and outs of this situation, but I know the only solution was prayer, the way I saw it, the way I see it.”

Everyone is entitled to have an opinion. This wasn’t a leaked phone conversation. This was a literal crime committed on a worldwide stage. And we can pray for Will and Jada, but Will needs more than that. He needs some scripture, like “Go and sin no more.” It’s very easy to say, “The devil made me do it.” And don’t get me wrong. He’s the devourer. His goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. But he didn’t pop in Will’s life at the Oscars and pull a prank on him like the Roadrunner on an episode of Looney Tunes. If Satan is in your speed dial, don’t be surprised how fast he makes you into a fool.