A Fly on the Wall at Chateau Smith

Oh, to be a fly on the wall once in a while.  A well-positioned housefly would be a phenomenal reporter in, say, the Clinton household, at least if Bill and Hillary are ever there at the same time (why do we so readily assume they're not?).  Certainly Mr. Snooping Fly might have had some interesting tales in the White House in the 1990s, hoo-ha.

Well, my friends, there's another household I'd definitely like to have had an opportunity to drop in on quietly last week.  That would be the one occupied by the veteran TV and movie actor Will Smith, and his wife, the former Jada Pinkett, also an actress in TV and film.

Last week, you will recall that there was a major-league flap when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks who award the Oscars, announced their nominations for the 2016 version of the awards.  The flap was directed at the fact that there did not appear to be a black actor in sight when you looked at the list of nominees.  The good Mrs. Smith reacted fairly promptly by announcing that she would not attend the award ceremony and would stay home instead.  A few days thereafter, Mr. Smith announced that he, too, would occupy himself elsewhere.

Now, the issue itself surely has leftist Hollywood buzzing.  The film industry is horrendously liberal and, beyond that, intolerably preachy at every chance it gets.  We can only imagine how it wants to rend itself asunder trying to purge itself of its obvious racism, if only it could, like, figure out who the racists actually are. 

Note that nowhere in the discussion is the possibility even allowed for that there were no Oscar-worthy performances in 2015 by a black actor or actress (check the link; see, I knew I wrote about that before).  Well, a little discussion, but even that devolved into self-immolating Hollywood commentary about how those miserable (and, of course, unnamed) racists are simply not writing good parts for black actors of either sex.  Yeah, that must be it.

Does anyone have an obligation to make sure the movie he or she is making has Oscar-worthy parts for black actors?  How, given the long schedule required to make a movie, could anyone declare "Not enough Oscar-worthy parts for black actors this year so far -- you need to write one into that film you're halfway through making."  Film A has nothing to do with Film B, if you get my drift.

Now, before you decry this as a long-standing issue of entrenched institutional racism, let me mention an arcane but wonderfully germane point, at least for this story.  Black actors have, of course, been nominated for Oscars many, many, many times before; we know that, and won a bunch -- of course, the people voting are different from, and far more numerous than, the people who select the nominees.

Jada Pinkett Smith's husband, the aforementioned actor Will Smith, has himself been nominated twice for Oscars.  He can't exactly say that the Academy has ignored him; considering all, plenty of actors of all colors would have been honored to retire having been nominated even once.  And here's the irony -- Will Smith was nominated twice, and although he lost both times (2002 and 2007 if memory serves), in both cases he lost, the better performance was by a very distinguished performer -- Denzel Washington in 2002 and Forest Whitaker in 2007.

I did not have to look this up -- both Oscar-winning actors were black.

So you have the fascinating situation where at least in those two years -- life's too short to do that kind of research -- 40% of the Best Actor nominations were given to black actors, despite the fact that black Americans are far less than 20% of the overall population.  I do not recall a protest by Asian actors at the time.

But in 2016, well, if there is not even one nomination, there is a hue and cry and Jada Pinkett Smith decides not to attend the Oscars night in a huff.  She did not, let us point out, say "I won't attend because that racist nominator Person X will be there."  That would take an actual accusation, which would require evidence.  Far easier just to "pre-leave", in a huff.

Which finally brings me back around to the fly on the wall.  Will Smith did not immediately say he was supporting what his wife said and was staying home.  Took a while, it did.  And that's where I'd like to know what went on in their pillow talk.

You see, here is Will Smith, black actor, twice himself a recipient of an Oscar nomination as Best Actor, both times losing to another black actor.  How the heck is Will Smith, of all people, supposed to claim that the Oscar nominations are bigoted?  If he ever gets another nomination, how will he know it's for his work quality and not just his skin color?

So there's his wife, knee-jerk reacting to the nominations by declaring she will not attend.  What a pile of steaming elk dung she left for Will!  He cannot possibly defend her position, given his own background.  Of course if she is staying home, he has a perfect Hobson's choice -- attend, given that the nomination process has been wonderfully fair to him, but embarrass his wife in doing so; or stay home despite having zero ground to stand on, and be a fantastic hypocrite.

Will Smith took the only possible route -- he supported his wife.  No one else but me is going to point out that by doing so, he paints himself as a fantastic hypocrite (or as a livid but teeth-gritting, obligated husband -- neither a great thing).  But he did.  And in leftist Hollywood, no one, not a single person, will make note of it in public.

But I will bet you my entire 2015 W-2 amount that there was a ton of speculation in Hollywood, on the discussion in the Smith household that took place between the time Jada Pinkett Smith made her public remarks, and when Will Smith came out and said that he would not show up either.  What did they say to each other; what did they say ...

Only the fly on the wall knows, and he is not talking.

Copyright 2016 by Robert Sutton
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