Don't think colour of their skin has a part in this-particularly as both black. When you look at the coverage, initially Will Smith seems OK with the "joke" but his wife's face shows she was definitely not and that is what led him to respond. Tbh, whether Rock is seen as an "edgie" comedian or not I don't think that using someone's illness as a butt of a joke is acceptable. Would people have been more shocked if she had been autistic or her hair loss was due to cancer rather than alopecia?

As others have said, don't think anyone on here would have let such a joke at their wife's expense stand but Smith should have known better in this situation and could have verbally called him out rather than physically lumping him. Resorting to physical violence - though certainly understandable and tempting!-never looks particularly smart and should really only ever be used as a last resort but other than his anger over the comment I think his reaction was fuelled by two things -there fact that the two have some history already and his emotional state. You can call it as the atypical actor's over emotionality but Will Smith was clearly moved by his character's motivation in the film he won the Oscar for as his rambling acceptance speech showed.

Another time, another place maybe it wouldn't have come to a physical blow but he has a point in that celebrities are only people regardless of fame and fortune and if you actively put yourself in the public eye you should expect a degree of public criticism but surely there is a line which it is not acceptable to cross and they shouldn't have to put up with some levels of "disrespect" as he put it. We can't all be expected to have thick skins all the time.