‘The Boy Looked Like He Was In Literal Pain’: ‘The View’ Under Fire for Halloween Segment Featuring a Costume Mocking Will Smith’s Slap of Chris Rock

The latest “The View” Halloween episode featured a segment titled “BOO Are You Wearing in 2022?” where wardrobe supervisor Ashley Alderfer-Kaufman created costumes that represented hot topics in the news. 

One topic designed into a costume was the 94th Academy Awards, where actor Will Smith got on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

The Boy Looked Like He Was In Literal Pain': ?The View? Under Fire for Halloween Segment Featuring a Costume Mocking Will Smith?s Slap of Chris Rock
TOPSHOT – US actor Will Smith (R) slaps US actor Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

A child wearing a gold bodysuit designed as an Oscar figurine made its way into the crowd with a red handprint marked on one cheek. 

Alderfer-Kaufman expressed, “It wasn’t about who, it was about what happened with best actor Will Smith when he went up and slapped Chris Rock.” 

Reminding viewers that they do not “endorse violence of any kind,” Alderfer-Kaufman stated The View  “couldn’t help but talk about one of the hottest hot topics this year.”

The hot topic named “The Oscar Slap” received a lot of negative notice from displeased fans who found it inappropriate that a serious topic such as this would be revived into a  joke. 

“The child in the ‘Oscar slap costume’ looked like they were about to cry, they obviously hated it and the idea.” 

“The Oscar slap costume felt a little cringeworthy. It was poor taste and the boy looked like he was in literal pain.”

“Absolutely disgusting, talk about using children as a political pawn, this is morbidly sick!”

Smith received backlash after over 15 million Americans watched him backhand Rock for comparing Pinkett Smith to movie character G.I. Jane. 

Since his problematic slap, Smith has apologized to Rock and also resigned from future Academy events soon before being eventually banned from attending any Oscar affairs for the next 10 years. 

Although Smith’s ban has been questioned since the reveal of his latest movie, “Emancipation,” many still found The View’s segment highlighting this situation to be inappropriate and insensitive.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top