Comparison between Will Smith and husband of Supreme Court nominee goes viral

‘This is how you support your wife’

A meme comparing actor Will Smith and Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s husband has gone viral amid the ongoing fallout from the weekend’s Oscars ceremony.

Smith, who won his first Oscars award on Sunday, slapped host Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.

Referring to the 1997 film GI Jane and its shaven-headed female lead, the Oscars host said: “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see it, all right?” Smith then slapped the host.

Taking aim at The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The Pursuit of Happyness actor on Thursday, Occupy Democrats appeared to reference both the Oscars fiasco and Republican hostility towards Ms Jackson last week.

“This is how you support your wife when she’s attacked by insufferable fools,” the meme said, with Ms Jackson pictured embracing her husband Patrick Jackson during her Supreme Court hearing last week. “No matter how badly you want to slap them”.

Ms Jackson’s husband was pictured embracing his wife at the end of last week, which the meme pointed out was not comparable to Smith’s reaction. She is expected to be confirmed when the Senate votes. 

Republican senators including Tom Cotton, Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz were all accused of hostile questioning during the hearing for Ms Jackson, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

While Mr Cruz asked Ms Jackson if “babies are racist”, in an apparent reference to critical race theory, senator Josh Hawley challenged Ms Jackson on her sentencing of child sexual abuse imagery offenders below federal sentencing guidelines. Democrats rubbished the attacks as stoking fears.

In an apology on Monday, Smith said his actions were “out of line” and “not indicative of the man I want to be.” Many public figures have criticised his behaviour.

On Friday evening he announced he was stepping down from the Academy.