The Academy Awards aired last night, yet most people are not interested in who won the Best Picture. Will Smith garnered attention not for winning the Best Actor award but for hitting comedian Chris Rock on stage after the latter joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s short hair.
Many people were shocked, considering Pinkett Smith has been vocal about her alopecia in the past. We asked the people in Sheffield what their reaction was to the incident:
Dani Gilbert, an ambassador of Alopecia UK, also commented on the altercation and Chris Rock’s joke about alopecia:
Another person impact is Kellie Scott. She is a journalist who was diagnosed with alopecia 10 years ago. When asked about her opinion on Chris Rock’s joke, she said such jokes are “lazy and unfunny.”
She said: “To see one shared on such a large and influential platform was beyond disappointing.”
Jada Pinkett Smith has previously shared her journey with alopecia, as well as how painful and scary it was for her. The ‘Red Table Talk’ host pointed out a line on her scalp that appeared due to the disease.
“Jada sharing her alopecia story has been empowering for the hair loss community, and I think we all felt the sting when Rock made his ‘joke’.”
Smith apologised to the Academy Awards and his fellow nominees, but did not mention Rock in his speech.
Ms Scott added: “I’m at peace with my hair loss now, but for a long time I felt unattractive and questioned my worth as a woman.
“Our value in society is determined largely by our looks, and I struggled to reconcile this for several years. We need more representation in media; hire models with alopecia. Half of women will experience some kind of hair loss yet we don’t see that on our screens or in our magazines.”
Watch the video of the whole altercation below:
