Daliso Chaponda defends Chris Rock in Oscar debacle
United Kingdom-based Malawian comedian Daliso Chaponda says comedians will now be concerned when they tell jokes on stage.
Speaking in an interview monitored on Sky News television channel yesterday, Chaponda said that what happened at the Oscar night on Sunday where actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock was unfortunate.
He said: “I am a fan of both guys and I have very mixed feelings, but I think that as a comedian all you do is try to make people laugh. People say anything to make people laugh. Sometimes you will cross lines and sometimes you will say things that other people consider unacceptable, irreverent, but all you are doing is trying to make people happy.”
Chaponda said comedians try to make people laugh, sometimes they succeed, sometimes they upset people.
“Unfortunately sometimes you get slapped for it,” he said.
The comedian said audiences generally enjoy the public roasting of celebrities.
“The only problem is you cannot control a person’s momentary reaction.
“When a celebrity feel humiliated, upset and I think that’s what happened with Will Smith, they react. And that is the problem with jokes. You do not know the back story of everybody,” said Chaponda.
He said even the funniest jokes can upset someone depending on their situation.
On what transpired on Sunday where Smith slapped comedian Rock after he joked about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith lack of hair, Chaponda said the joke hurt the Smith family.
‘But I think it is hard to know if a joke will hurt someone or not. And if we put too many restrictions on jokes then we are basically saying lets not tell jokes,” said the comedian who praised Rock for handling the incident with grace.
The entertainment industry is still debating the incident that took place during this year’s Oscar awards when Smith walked up on stage, slapped Rock after he told a joke about Jada’s lack of hair. After resuming his seat, Smith shouted at Rock asking him to stop making fun of his wife.
Jada suffers from an auto immune disease called alopecia which leads to massive hair loss.
The actor, who won the Best Male Actor Award during the same event, has apologised for the incident.
Additional reporting by BBC
