It was the slap seen ‘round the world. It happened last Sunday night on the televised presentation of the 94thannual Oscars award ceremonies when Will Smith stormed to the stage after comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife’s lack of a full head of hair and, in front of audiences worldwide, delivered a slap to the face of Rock. Smith was incensed that, according to Emily Stedman, the comedian’s remark that his wife’s shaved haircut was reminiscent of famous film character G.I. Jane. Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, has been openly suffering with the hair loss condition Alopecia since 2018.
Smith later won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Venus and Serena Williams’ father Richard Smith in the movie King Richard. Smith did not apologize for his actions during his acceptance speech and did not do so until “one day on from the altercation. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,” he wrote. “I was out of line and I was wrong. I’m 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.”” Rock’s only statement on the affair to date, according to Nicole Sperling and Julia Jacobs, writing in the New York Times (NYT), has been “I’m still kind of processing what happened,” Mr. Rock said, briefly addressing the topic everyone was talking about. He promised to discuss it in greater depth later. “It’ll be serious, it’ll be funny, but I’d love to — I’m going to tell some jokes.””
Apparently after the incident, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said, “that the actor Will Smith was asked to leave the Oscars ceremony after he slapped Chris Rock onstage Sunday night, but that the actor refused to go.” The Academy did not take any steps to physically remove Smith from the event. What lessons should every Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and compliance professional draw from this matter?
Workplace Violence
First and foremost, violence at the workplace is never justified. What if this had happened at your office? What would you do? Would you allow the perpetrator of the violence to remain as your employee? I should certainly hope not. What if you are in a state which allows guns to be carried. Do you risk the perpetrator walking up and shooting a co-worker over a joke, in poor taste or otherwise? Unfortunately, workplace violence happens all too often.
What if the person attacked (Rock) did anything to defend themselves? In watching the clip of the slap, you will see Rock kept his hands behind him. What if he had raised his hands to defend himself and then the perpetrator shot him. In the state of Texas and Florida that would probably bring the ‘Stand Your Ground’ defense into play if the perpetrator said he thought the person he was about to attack was going to hit the perpetrator and the perpetrator actually acted to defend himself. You can see how quickly all this can spiral out of control.
Not only should you make clear that violence will never be tolerated at work, but you should use this opportunity to train about underlying causes and red flags of workplace violence. There is clearly history between Smith and Rock, the slap seen ‘round the world did not come out of nowhere. Metal health at the workplace can be as important as physical health. Every CCO should use this opportunity to reassess your company’s overall programs in these areas.
Institutional Justice
What about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decision not to remove Smith from the theater? The Academy was on actual notice that violence had been perpetrated but (apparently) took no action. Another comedian, Wanda Sykes, one of the hosts of Sunday’s telecast, said in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres “that the moment was “sickening” to her and that she thought Mr. Smith should have been escorted from the building instead of being allowed to stay and accept his Oscar.” She went on to add, “For them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award — I was like, how gross is this? This is just the wrong message.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) made clear in the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs that it expects a CCO and corporate compliance function to be the keepers of Institutional Justice in an organization. One of the tenets of this concept is that all employees must be treated fairly and equally, literally from the Board room to the shop floor. You can bet your bottom dollar that if an employee at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles where the event was held had slapped an actor (or even a comedian) that employee would be escorted off the premises forthwith. The Academy certainly had the right and power to escort Smith off but failed to do so. Did their actions put Rock at additional risk? Possibly. What about the other attendees? I will leave that to your imagination.
What about actions by the Academy now to sanction Smith for his conduct? According to the NYT article, “The academy said that it had initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith “for violations of the academy’s standards of conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the academy.” It said that Mr. Smith would be given a chance to respond and that at its next board meeting, on April 18, it “may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions.”” Stern stuff, or perhaps not, particularly if the Academy issues a stern statement to Smith “not to do it again.”
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