Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Supports Will Smith’s Oscars Slap, Says Free Speech Shouldn’t Protect “Assholes”

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor has one of the hottest of hot takes. The Oscar nominee, who played Will Smith’s wife in “King Richard,” says she completely understands why her co-star slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

Her defense? Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. “I know that he wanted to protect his wife,” Ellis-Taylor tells The Daily Beast. “I stand by that. I stand with him for that.”

Ellis-Taylor also pushed back on the idea that free speech should automatically shield comments that cause harm.

I think that, you know, this idea that First Amendment rights should protect everybody? I don’t think it should necessarily protect assholes. I don’t. I don’t. I really don’t, especially if you’re causing harm.

That’s such a brain-dead take that I don’t even know where to begin .. The First Amendment exists precisely to protect speech that offends, annoys, or enrages us—not just speech we happen to agree with. If only popular or agreeable opinions were protected, there’d be no need for free-speech protections in the first place. And regardless of how tasteless Chris Rock’s joke was, being offended doesn’t give you the right to walk onto the Oscars stage and slap someone for saying something you don’t like.

There aren’t many people who have defended Smith’s slap of Rock—because, quite frankly, what exactly is there to defend?

Ellis-Taylor has joined a very limited, but notable, group, as Tiffany Haddish is the only other Hollywood figure to have actually come to Smith’s defense. Nobody else has. Oh, and I guess Will’s son, Jaden Smith, counts as well—he boneheadedly tweeted on the night of the slap, “And that’s how we do it!” Haddish’s reasoning was similar to Ellis-Taylor’s, saying it was apparently “the most beautiful thing” to see Smith defend his wife like that.

Many have forgotten that Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor on the very same night as the slap. It was supposed to be a joyous and important night in his career, but it was overshadowed by a shameful incident. A few days later, Smith quickly escaped to Dubai and laid low with his best friend, the Crown Prince. It was probably best for him to stay out of the country.

Smith was then slapped with a 10-year ban by the Academy, meaning he can’t attend any Oscar-related events until 2033. The irony of that AMPAS ban is that, technically, people like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby can still attend the Oscars—they haven’t been banned.