The Internet's Most Viral Moment - Slapgate: Will Smith vs. Chris Rock vs. Jada Pinkett-Smith

 The Internet's Most Viral Moment

 

Slapgate: Will Smith vs. Chris Rock vs. Jada Pinkett-Smith

 

29/7/2024,

The Internet never ends, and occasionally it seems like the conversation around particular events never ends either. Users immediately flood social media timelines with their thoughts, feelings, and views regarding recent events.

These discussions turn into opinion pieces written by journalists from various media outlets, dominating the news cycle. Before we know it, yet another momentous cultural event has occurred, contributing to the never-ending web of cultural phenomena that is Internet culture.

Naturally, certain stories take centre stage in the news cycle more than others. However, not all events that hold great cultural significance are created equal: Most of the time, though, it's just plain old human foolishness.

Some are made just for shock effects, while others are the product of rumours about famous people that might or might not be true.

This year, there were a lot of stories of romantic problems, a pink sauce that might seriously harm anyone who ate it, and, of course, a lot of conspiracy theories floating around the Internet.

Below is a list of the top ten viral events that took over our social media feeds.

Though it seems like every notable person opted to voice
their feelings on it, we still wanted it to stop. Presenter Chris Rock, as is
traditional for Oscar presenters, made fun of famous attendees during the 2022
Academy Awards in March. At one point, he turned to Jada Pinkett-Smith, who was
present to support her husband, Will Smith, who was up for Best Actor for his
performance as King Richard. Rock made fun of Pinkett-Smith's bald head and
enquired about the release date of G.I. Jane 2, alopecia. Pinkett-Smith has
openly contemplated shaving her head. The cameras cut to Smith entering the stage and hitting Rock
across the face because he was not amused by the joke. Smith yelled back at
Rock, "Keep my wife's name out of your f-cking mouth!" after he tried
to justify himself by claiming it was only a joke. Smith then went back to his
seat.     For the remainder of the evening, tensions were elevated as
people anxiously anticipated learning whether Smith would be carried out (which
he wasn't) or emerge victorious in his category (which he was). Smith sobbed
and delivered a protracted speech, but the subsequent media frenzy was
unrelenting. When queried about it, actors claimed to be "sickened"
and "traumatised" (see: Jim Carrey and Amy Schumer).   For days, it was the most talked-about event on social
media. There were memes atop memes, TikTok makers who dissected the slap minute
by moment, and several debates concerning misogynoir and Smith's need to
suppress his emotions for so long to appease white viewers.