The world is buzzing after rapper-turned-actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for cracking a joke on his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head.
Pinkett Smith has publicly said that she is suffering from the autoimmune disease, alopecia, a disorder that makes one’s hair fall out.
She announced it on her Facebook/Meta series, Red Table Talk in 2020.
While the first time Oscar winner said he was defending his wife and protecting her from any further ridicule (even if it were a poorly crafted joke), many, like “Ex on the Beach” contestant and hair-loss advocate ZaraLena Jackson, felt the 53-year-old was standing up for them, NY Post reports.
Especially since she too has been called G.I. Jane before.
The joke prompted Will Smith to bang on Rock after he said that Pinkett Smith looked like she was getting ready to star in the sequel of the first film, where a woman shaved her had to serve in the military.
Women are bald for many reasons other than to pass for men, and Jackson thought that Rock should have “known better.”
“I think it’s inappropriate to make any joke about someone with alopecia as it’s a condition that highly impacts mental health for that individual and isn’t a laughing matter,” she said. “To be clear, I don’t condone violence, but him defending Jada showed strength in my eyes and was very comforting to see a man stand by his woman when she has alopecia.”
She continued, “Being a comedian is very tongue in cheek, and we all dislike when jokes are targeted as us, regardless of the subject, but he should have anticipated that response naturally and known better.
“I’ve had friends and family joke about ‘let your hair down’ or ask to borrow a razor or shampoo, which I just laugh at because I know they mean no harm, and it can be humorous to see them panic without thinking about the comment.”
One family member that joked about it was Jackson’s mother, who once said, “Oh wow Zara, you look like a GI Jane babe!'”
The advocate hopes people will be one day see alopecia as a “medical condition and not cosmetic,” then she argues “the subject wouldn’t be joked around lightly.”