A Word: It Hits Different

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4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Rock is back on tour, days after Will Smith struck him and won his first Oscar in the same night. While the Academy strongly condemned Smith, several Black stars and writers have publicly defended him, or even applauded him for standing up for his wife. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson talks with entertainment journalist Chris Witherspoon about how race is playing out in the debate over what happened, and what should happen next. Guest: Chris Witherspoon, entertainment journalist and founder/CEO of @PopViewers. Podcast production by Sam Kim You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mom. Dad. Uncle Alistair.
0:03.2	Mental health was declined in almost 40% of school children.
0:06.6	What's in our mind can be the hardest subject, so ask us what's on ours.
0:10.9	Help us with a different kind of homework.
0:13.4	A proper chat that can help ease our stress and reduce our anxiety.
0:17.6	To start a conversation tonight with our world mental health day homework.
0:21.9	To find out more, search ITV, Britain, get talking.
0:26.5	Supported by mind and young minds.
0:29.1	ITV.
0:32.6	This is a word, a podcast from Slate.
0:34.5	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:36.8	Everyone who expected the Oscars to be the same boring show got a big surprise this year.
0:41.6	That's because Will Smith showed Chris Rock.
0:44.3	Just how little he liked a joke that was aimed at his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
0:48.9	Will Smith to smack the shit out of it?
0:51.2	The slap that launched a thousand tweets and think pieces has reignited real debates
0:55.8	about toxic masculinity and what it means to protect black women.
0:59.8	What he did was wrong and I believe it will probably be the biggest learning moment of his career.
1:04.8	And I'm really excited that we can sit back and learn with him.
1:07.9	Will Smith, the slap that rocked the Oscars and what it means in the black community coming up
1:12.0	on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with us.
1:15.9	Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else.
	...

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