The 94th Academy Awards became quite tense on Sunday when Will Smith got on stage and slapped Chris Rock in response to an insensitive joke that Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith. Shortly after the incident, Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor and gave a speech about family and protecting the people you love.


The takes on the incident have ranged from insightful to groan inducing to flat out racist. The Takeaway takes a step back and speaks with Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Distinguished professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University and host of the podcast, "Left of Black," about what this moment revealed about Black masculinity and race in mass media.

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