Internet is sure a weird place, full of conspiracies and conjectures that are enough to blow your mind. One of them is gaining steam by the way, the ‘curse of Macbeth’ theory. It has been linked with the biggest highlight of the 2022 Oscars, the infamous slap that shook the internet. For the unversed, when host-comedian Chris Rock made an unintentional joke on Jada Pinkett Smith’s health condition, husband Will Smith fumed in anger, stumped towards the stage and hit Chris, for his somewhat insensitive remark. Smith’s apologetic, teary-eyed acceptance speech still couldn’t compensate for his rather, impulsive move, as The Academy still ended up banning him from attending the prestigious awards event for almost 10 years.
Will Smith released a public apology soon and Chris Rock never filed a complaint on the ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ star so what is the fuss all about now? Well, blame the new conspiracy theory that’s been hanging in the air! When Chris got smacked, the internet had its own way of reacting to it, as some pointed out at an absurd analogy. Many tweeted instantly, how Chris got slapped, not because of his remark on Jada, but rather, because he uttered the cursed word ‘Macbeth’ right before the incident took place.
Attentive viewers of the show pointed out how Chris, had announced the ‘best actor nominee’, Denzel Washington, saying, “Denzel. Macbeth. Loved It!” But what’s the deal here, you may ask, it is widely believed among theatre artists across the globe that uttering the word ‘Macbeth’ while on stage, is considered to be a bad omen, one of the superstitious beliefs that many theatre artists swore by. ‘Macbeth, by the way, is one of the famous tragedies of legendary author William Shakespear.
Macbeth had been associated with bad luck for more than 400 years, since it was first performed. And since then, tales of misfortune and bad omen has been surrounded around it, considered to be Shakespear’s one for the most ‘cursed’ play. Right from its first performance in 1606, at the King Jame’s Court, it was seen how the lady playing Macbeth died mysteriously on stage, and William Shakespear himself had to play her part. Since then, many such absurd incidences have been recorded, while the truth of the matter still remains unknown.
ALSO READ – BTS’ Jungkook Crowned The ‘Most Popular K-Pop Star’ In India, Says Research
Many fans took to their Twitter handles to share how Chris too, got trapped in the wrath of the spell of ‘Macbeth’ and hence, got slapped impulsively by Will. “This is why you don’t say Macbeth in a theater,” tweeted an user. Does the theory have any depth to it or is it just a conspiracy theory with no logic? We leave that to your imagination!
