The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has waded into the row over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Many celebrities have come out to condemn Smith for his actions after he struck the comedian on-stage for saying that he couldn’t wait to see Pinkett Smith in “G.I. Jane 2”, alluding to her shaven head. The actor has been vocal about suffering from the autoimmune disease alopecia, sharing the effects of the condition with her followers on social media.
Others, including Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Janet Hubert, have even defended Smith. “Will stood up for his wife, Chris Rock is always disrespecting Black women. Mean spirited hides behind comedy. BULL,” she said.
But Casablancas has now taken to Instagram to complain that “no-one stood up for Chris Rock” after the slap.
“Imm bummed no one stood up for Chris Rock in the moment and after, will smith shoulda tried to stand up to Eminem and Dr Dre same way…isn’t it Chris Rock job’s (!?) to make fun of people in the audience, very weird.”
The singer also criticised Will Smith’s acting, and pointed out the actor once trained to play Muhammad Ali in the 2001 biopic Ali so his actions were “just an act of bullying”.
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“Will Smith has sucked (yet continued to be full of himself) since Independence Day,” he added
“Of course actors and mega-celebrities defend their elk i guess…? (not all, i know – but still) i wish i was there to try and defend Chris Rock, idk maybe bad look cause i’m white or whatever but chris rock is kind of a slender dude and will smith trained for a boxing movie for a year so i feel that was just an act of bullying… – trying to redeem his Tupac jealousy issues (?) under the guise of being some fake hero who needs anger management.”
The Strokes frontman also claimed that the incident drew a lot more attention to Pinkett Smith’s alopecia and he suggested that Smith should retire.
“He [Smith] might need mental treatment, idk, or just retire for the sake of overall movie quality.”
Following the incident, the Oscars Academy launched a formal review into the incident and Smith later shared a formal apology to Rock.
The Strokes, meanwhile, recently headlined Lollapalooza in Argentina, marking their first performance of 2022.
They are set to perform a headline show in Mexico on May 19, with Mac DeMarco and The War On Drugs as support. The band have also been added to the line-up for this year’s Roskilde festival, alongside Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and The Smile.