The joke was pretty lame, and Will Smith certainly overreacted. But Damn, this wasn’t some sinister joke nor something that should harm smiths reputation and career.
The Joke: it’s a comedians job to roast during times like this. It might be crude, but it wasn’t malicious. I remember an uncle telling me about a Fryers Roast in NY back in the 90’s. I can’t remember the names of the people involved but there was an old Jewish comedian in the audience who had been a holocaust surviver. The host went to roast comedian and said he should take cues from the guy he was sitting next to and get better tattoos (Jews were tattooed in concentration camps). The comedian laughed and responded “that’s just your wife’s phone number”. Anyways, everyone isn’t going to role with the punches like that, but the joke didn’t cross some heinous line. Chris Rock became famous for speaking outrageously on prety sensitive issues.
On the other hand, I can totally identify with being over protective and hurt about how my wife or kids were spoken to. Will was wrong to get violent but I’ve done stuff in than flash of protective anger.
Point being - this isn’t some catastrophic incident. There isn’t a devil and there isn’t an angel.
