Several Christian leaders have taken to social media to share their thoughts on Will Smith's behavior during this year's Academy Awards ceremony.
Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony was fraught with controversy after Will Smith, who won the Best Actor award for the first time in his decades-long career, took to the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock. It was the slap heard all over the world as Smith attacked Rock over the comedian's joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's medical condition called alopecia. Smith apologized to the Academy later in the night when he accepted an Oscar for his performance in "King Richard."
Harvest Christian Fellowship senior pastor Greg Laurie took to Twitter to share a Denzel Washington quote that read, "At your highest moment, be careful, that's when the devil comes for you." The Christian leader added, "Good advice to remember for Will and all of us." Benjamin Watson quoted the same and added Scripture, specifically James 4:7, commenting, "What a warning for all of us."
According to Faithwire, one of the most gracious responses was offered by Josh Broome, a former porn star turned pastor. In an Instagram post, he described himself as "a follower of Jesus first in every area" of his life, theorizing that he would not have responded the way Smith responded to Rock's joke.
"But could I have addressed it man-to-man? Absolutely, yes, 100%," Broome remarked. "The development of meekness and maturity as a Christian takes time. Meekness is not allowing people to disrespect you and walk over all over you, but it is having an appropriate amount of restraint."
Broome acknowledged how a husband is "called [to] protect [his] family at all costs]" and admitted that a past self would have done the same. But more importantly, the pastor argued that what transpired during the Academy Awards ceremony was a symptom of how much Jesus has been rejected by modern culture.
In late Monday, Smith finally issued a public apology for slapping Rock on live television the night prior, Vanity Fair reported. Smith wrote on social media, "Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable."
Smith explained that while he recognizes that jokes are "part of the job" of being a celebrity, Rock's "joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally." The 53 year old father of three admitted that he was "out of line" and "wrong," adding that he felt "embarrassed" over his own actions. He wrote that his actions that night were "not indicative of the man I want to be."
In Smith's tearful Academy Award acceptance speech, which he gave mere moments after attacking Rock on live television, the actor spoke about how he was called "to love people and protect people" and how in the business, one must be prepared to "have people disrespecting you" and "pretend that's okay," BBC reported. He then went on to apologize to the Academy and his fellow nominees.
