When Will Smith left his seat, calmly walked to the stage, assaulted a Black man in front of millions of people, sat back down, cussed out the man he’d just hit, won an award on that very stage less than an hour later, and devoted his speech to explaining the rationale for the slap — a culmination of activity White enough to win 200 electoral votes. Will Smith, of course, is Black. Which maybe makes this choice of the Whitest thing I’ve ever seen a curious one. (It’s also maybe curious why I’m choosing to write about this now, more than a month after the Oscars. I regret to inform you that this story has no expiration date. There will be slap-related podcasts, books, oral histories, anniversaries, limited series, baseball cards and theme park rides. Be happy I’m devoting less than 1,000 words to it.) Read more