Julian Casablancas Has Some Interesting Thoughts About the Will Smith Oscars Slap

Turns out The Strokes frontman is not the actor's biggest fan

Julian Casablancas of The Strokes performs during day one of Lollapalooza Brazil Music Festival at Interlagos Racetrack on March 25, 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Julian Casablancas of The Strokes performs at Lollapalooza Brazil Music Festival on March 25, 2022
Mauricio Santana/Getty Images

We’re now on Day 2 of Will Smith slap discourse after the actor shocked the Oscars on Sunday night by smacking Chris Rock across the face for making fun of his wife’s alopecia. At this point, it feels as though everyone under the sun has weighed in with their take. “But wait a second,” you’re probably saying. “What does The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas have to say about all this?”

Finally, we have an answer, thanks to a new Instagram post by the musician. In it, Casablancas defends Chris Rock and rails against Smith, alleging that because Rock is “kind of a slender dude” and Smith once trained in boxing to play Muhammad Ali, the slap was “an act of bullying.”

“imm bummed no one stood up for Chris Rock in the moment and after, will smith shoulda tried to stand up to Eminem and Dr Dre same way…isn’t it Chris Rock job’s (!?) to make fun of people in the audience, very weird,” Casablancas wrote. “congratulation to will smith for bringing a MILLION times more attention to his wifes embarrassing thing that no one woulda known about otherwise.”

He also went out of his way to work in a few digs at Smith’s acting career and his wife Jada’s former relationship with Tupac.

“Will Smith has sucked (yet continued to be full of himself) since Independence Day,” he continued. “of course actors and mega-celebrities defend their elk i guess…? (not all, i know — but still) i wish i was there to try and defend Chris Rock, idk maybe bad look cause i’m white or whatever but chris rock is kind of a slender dude and will smith trained for a boxing movie for a year so i feel that was just an act of bullying… — trying to redeem his Tupac jealousy issues (?) under the guise of being some fake hero who needs anger management… he might need mental treatment, idk, or just retire for the sake of overall movie quality.”

So there you have it! Like the rest of us, Julian Casablancas thinks Will Smith was out of line — and he also seems to really hate Independence Day.

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