At the Academy Awards this year, you’d be forgiven that anything other than Will Smith clocking Chris Rock actually happened.
But it did; awards were doled out for some deserving projects, namely Questlove‘s directorial debut, Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The film, that took the Best Original Documentary Oscar, was released in select cinemas and on streaming services, documenting the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.
The award win was largely overshadowed by the now infamous ‘slap’, though Chris Rock managed to keep the show on track enough to present The Roots‘ drummer and hip hop icon with the Academy Award.
Watch the trailer for Summer Of Soul below.
Following the controversial event, Summer Of Soul producer Joseph Patel has aired his frustrations with how things went down.
In a now deleted Twitter thread, Patel state that he believes Will Smith ‘robbed’ Summer Of Soul of its moment, as well as stealing the spotlight from the other nominees in the Best Original Documentary category.
“I think what Will did was selfish,” he said.
“It robbed the category of its moment. It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs. And it robbed Summer of Soul and our team of our moment. Of a loud, enthusiastic cheer for a celebrated film.”
Chris Rock wasn’t left out either, with Patel criticising the comedian for announcing the winner as ‘Amir Thompson and four white guys’, though Patel is of South Asian descent.
Best Documentary Feature goes to ‘Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).’ Congratulations #Oscars pic.twitter.com/4RRClS7VVZ
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
“The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award.”
“I’m a big boy — I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a shitty, disrespectful thing to do… What both Will AND Chris did really stained what should have been a beautiful moment for us.”
Questlove, meanwhile has opened up about what he was going through on the night, during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.
“In my mind, they were just doing a sketch or whatever.” he admitted. “I was not present at all. I was in a blank state.”
Watch the clip below.
