Alberta Premier Jason Kenney Faces Backlash For Will Smith Slap Meme

The unscripted slap that Will Smith delivered to Chris Rock during the 94th annual Academy Awards will likely go down as one of the most shocking live television moments of all time. Smith, who approached Rock on stage moments after he delivered an off-side joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, managed to silence an entire room of Hollywood elite after delivering a swift hit to Rock right in the face. Smith then walked back to his seat and yelled, “Leave my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth” two times in a row. The whole thing is pretty shocking.

People have mixed feelings about the event—did Chris Rock deserve it for taking his Oscars roast too far or was the Fresh Prince completely out of line for resorting to violence? 

Alberta premier Jason Kenney, for one, saw The Slap as an opportunity to create a political meme to express his stance on green energy in the province. 

The meme that Kenney tweeted just after 8 a.m. on March 28, is a still from the moment after Smith’s hand left Rock’s face. Overtop of the image in front of Smith in all caps white font it says “Reality” and overtop of Rock says “Green Energy Policies.”

Premier Kenney has made some questionable decisions during his time in office, but this meme is next level.

The Conservative leader is receiving backlash from both his critics and former supporters for using a questionable image, one that promotes violence, while others are choosing to make memes out of his original meme to show its utter stupidity.

Despite the nearly 2,500 comments and 1,200 retweets, Kenney was adamant that his meme was not in poor taste. In fact, at a press conference following his tweet, Kenney was quick to defend his meme choice and went on to explain what a meme is. You know, just in case there was some confusion and that’s why people were hating on him.

“That image and different memes based on it are basically the Internet today,” he told the media while defending his foolish image. “It’s a relevant way of making a point. In this case, the point is that reality is intruding on the failed policies of the green left that have sought to [make] life more expensive for everybody.”

As of the time of publishing, Premier Kenney still had not removed the meme from his account.