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Topics: Will Smith, Chris Rock, Oscars, US News, Twitter
Dominic Smithers
Topics: Will Smith, Chris Rock, Oscars, US News, Twitter
A woman who has alopecia and worked with Chris Rock on a documentary about Black women's hair has slammed the comedian for his Oscars joke.
Sheila Bridges was interviewed for Rock's 2009 documentary Good Hair and opened up about living with the condition.
However, she says she was disappointed by the 57-year-old and his decision to ridicule Jada Pinkett Smith - who also has alopecia - at the awards ceremony last weekend.
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During the glitzy do, Rock went up to present an award and took the opportunity to poke fun at the stars in the audience.
One of his comments was aimed at Pinkett Smith and her shaved head.
He said: "Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see you."
And we all know what happened next.
Well, speaking to TMZ, Bridges said she was appalled by the joke and that Rock simply helped propagate harmful stereotypes.
She said: "The first stereotype is about Black women. That Black women can be or should be disrespected in public and that we are so strong that nothing bothers us, nothing hurts us. That we have this impenetrable armour and we're never to be protected.
"When Chris Rock made the joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's hair, or bald head, to me he was publicly disrespecting yet another Black woman.
"And then Will Smith reacts by playing back into this stereotype about Black men, you know, being violent, not being able to sort of control themselves."
She added: "So I just feel like it was bad behaviour all the way around."
Following the bizarre altercation last Sunday (27 March), Bridges initially took to Twitter to express her anger.
She shared a clip from the film the two worked on together, in which she explained how significant hair is to women and their identity.
In the caption, she wrote: "While I do not condone violence (or what Will Smith did), I am not completely surprised that Chris Rock got rocked by Will Smith after making the medical condition of @jadapinkettsmith part of his comedic schtick - disrespecting her publicly.
"Shame on you @chrisrock. Didn’t we sit down and talk at length about how painfully humiliating and difficult it is to navigate life as a bald woman in a society that is hair obsessed? As if life isn’t challenging enough out here as an unprotected black woman?"
Smith, who went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for his role in King Richard, has since apologised for attacking Rock, saying he was ‘out of line’ and that his behaviour was ‘unacceptable’.
In a post to Instagram, the 53-year-old said: "I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.
"There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."
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