Thanks to social media, we got some more context behind what happened during the Awards ceremony off-screen, including a video of Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry coming up to Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during the commercial break after The Slap. You can see Washington and Perry brush Will’s shoulders as if to say, “brush it off,” then Washington walks over to where Jada is still sitting, kneels by her side, and appears to comfort her. Amid all the hot takes about the actual smack itself, a lot of social media users drew attention to this moment, as well.
“Make Black men practicing conflict resolution a part of the hot takes,” offered one user. One person tweeted, “Black Hollywood like ‘we got it from here,'” which another person quote-tweeted with, “Denzel Washington & Tyler Perry quickly holding an emergency community meeting like the church elders they are.” Another Twitter user observed, “Only Denzel Washington could turn a chaotic moment and career low for Will Smith into a beautiful moment. That man is the GOAT,” and another person called Washington, “a wise OG.”
