Last night was a night of historic firsts at the Oscars. And among those firsts the most memorable is sure to be the onscreen pairing of Will Smith’s hand and Chris Rock’s face.

Everyone seems to want to talk about this incident. And it’s perfectly understandable, even with all the other crazy news going on in the world. It was simply so shocking and unexpected.

Context plays a large role in how we react to things. And although nobody is a fan of wars with Russia, we know that Russia is the kind of country that starts wars. But nobody expects the winner of the best actor award to violently slap and verbally assault one of the presenters in the middle of the Oscars broadcast. That’s new, and so it’s news.

Most people will condemn Will out of hand. A few might excuse him as a man defending his wife’s honor, or a virtuous man using his priviledge to defend an innocent woman from the microagressions of an entitled and abusive male. If this insult had happened at a dinner party or a gathering of friends, I might have understood Will’s reaction more. It would have been more callous and personal in that context and might provoke a more callous and personal reaction.

But this wasn’t a personal occasion. It was the Oscars. A gala event for industry insiders giving awards to themselves. Hosted by comedians who make their living off of teasing people. It’s particularly to be expected at such events that the subject of much of the teasing will be the attendees themselves. It’s fun, the audience connects with the material, and by showing that you have some good humor about being teased you deflate some of the self-importance that’s baked into the event.

Hollywood has been progressively losing its sense of humor lately though, and the Oscars are no exception. These are people who take themselves very seriously. And ever since Ricky Gervais tore into them a few years back they’ve had a rocky relationship with their hosts. But still, the job of the hosts is to tell jokes to and about people in the industry.

Chris Rock isnt exactly a fresh face. He’s been doing his shtick for decades. You know what you’re going to get if you use him as a presenter. If you hear your name mentioned, he’s probably not going to compliment you. He’s going to tease you. That’s his job, that’s what he does. He’s a comedian with a well-known track record for getting in your face. He’s putting on a show.

The Oscars is also a pretty formal occasion. Peoole dress up nice and put on their best faces. It’s televised in front of millions. It’s an incredibly and almost painfully staged affair. Frankly, my one compliment to this moment is that it was one of the least staged personal interactions I’ve seen from the Oscars in years. At an event filled with people whose whole lives are about putting on a performance, Big Willy was keepin it real. I genuinely appreciated that. It broke the illusion for a moment that all the plastic smiles and makeup and ten thousand dollar dresses maintain, that these people are somehow different or better.

So as a personal act, it was pretty dumb of Will to do that. As a person receiving an award, he hit someone who was acting as an employee. He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t lose his award over this. But as a moment in television history, I kind of appreciated it. It broke a carefully cultivated illusion. It injected some authenticity into a carefully planned morality play about the spectacular artistic and personal virtues of the Hollywood celebrite’. And someone finally out-Kanyed Kanye. He’s done a lot, but he’s never slapped or threatened anyone. I think he might be too sensible for that, and that’s saying something.