THEWILL DOWNTOWN APR 03, 2022 EDITION

VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

Simbi

Wabote

On Building A Sustainable Oil And Gas Industry Through Local Content Development

VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

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THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

Photo: Kola Oshalusi @insignamedia Makeup: Zaron

EDITOR’S NOTE

T

he state of insecurity in Nigeria is becoming increasingly alarming.

Only about five weeks ago, a young lady, Bamise Ayanwole went missing and was eventually confirmed dead after boarding a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicle. And now, bandits attack a train travelling the Abuja-Kaduna route, leaving people, including a young lady, Dr. Chinelo Nwando, dead.

What is happening in Nigeria? Have we even carried out proper investigations to find our kidnapped brothers and sisters who were on that same trip? Do we even know the identities of these missing citizens? And the bandits; who are they?

Is it possible the police force has a good idea of who and where to find these bandits but poverty in Nigeria shrouds their humanity and so, more often than not, may need some kind of 'encouragement' to do their job and avoid prolonging the search or even worse, never finding the perpetrators?

A few weeks ago, we had adulterated fuel circulating in Lagos, Nigeria, causing damage to a lot of cars and generators. Naturally, during our cover interview with The Executive Secretary of The Nigerian Content and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, the question of why this happened was raised. In his response, he pointed out one of the possible reasons. “One is because we are not refining locally; we are import-dependent on refined products, so anything can happen if you don't have a process to quality-check the products that come in. Take it or leave, anywhere in the world, people get involved in all manner of things to maximize profit and if you're not looking properly, you will be a victim to it.”

While Wabote might be right, some people spent millions of naira fixing their cars, and yet, we have heard nothing about who and why we had bad fuel in circulation. This has to stop! Enough with the 'e go better' coping mechanism.

On a lighter note, the other pages in this issue feature exciting fashion, beauty, and lifestyle articles, including the most talked-about Oscar moment thus far, 'the slap heard around the world.'

Until next week, enjoy your read.

VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

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CONTENTS

COVER SIMBI WABOTE ON BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY THROUGH LOCAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

16

WEBSIGHTS DOWNTOWN EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, INCLUDING THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR

04-05

FASHION DOWNTOWN’S BEST AND WORST DRESSED LIST FROM THE 2022 OSCARS

15 REVIEW AMBULANCE

06

ODDBOD & THE CITY SOW WHAT YOU WANT TO REAP

07

DOWNTOWN CONFIDENTIAL CAN YOU CANDLE HEAT?

12-13

BEAUTY 4 SUSTAINABLE BEAUTY TIPS

Odun Ogunbiyi @oddbodandthecity

- Contributing Editor Odunayo Ogunbiyi is an ex pharmacist with a passion for food and pampering. Writing about her exploits wherever in the world she may find herself is just her way of staying sane in this zany world.

Boluwatife Adesina @bolugramm - Contributing Writer Boluwatife Adesina is a media writer and the helmer of the Downtown Review page. He’s probably in a cinema near you.

14

REVIEW THE OSCARS 2022 WINNERS AND LOSERS

WHAT YOU SAID INSTAGRAM @ekazsignatures

Onah Nwachukwu @onahluciaa

AUSTYN OGANNAH

PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Editor: Onah Nwachukwu @onahluciaa Editor-at-Large: Chalya Shagaya Writers: Kehindé Fagbule, Tilewa Kazeem Interns: Sophia Edisi, Abdul Auwal Graphics/Layout: Olaniyan John ‘Blake’ Digital Media: Oladimeji Balogun Guest Art Director: Sunny Hughes ‘ SunZA’ www.thewilldowntown.com thewilldowntown thewilldowntown

Uzo Orimalade @uzosfoodlabs

- Contributing Writer Uzo Orimalade has a background in Law and Business and spent over a decade working in Corporate America and Nigeria in the management consulting and investment banking sectors. She switched careers to pursue her passion for baking, cooking and home entertaining. She is content creator and host of shows in various media platforms. She has been recognised by local and international media outlets including a feature on CNN’s African Voices.

Efua Oyofo @efuastar

- Contributing Writer Efua has always enjoyed telling stories.

A writer and cultural storyteller, Efua Oyofo helps clients tell their most compelling story. She focuses on social impact storytelling, and hosts a podcast: This African Love, exploring the culture of dating - and helping people develop more effective ways to navigate relationships in today’s world.

@jenniferolize

Beautiful

@Rhinsolar__

Love to see it

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VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

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FASHION

's

2022 OSCARS T

BY ABDUL AUWAL

he Oscars' red carpet has seen some of the most memorable fashion moments in history, and the 2022 ceremony was no exception.

Beyoncé or 'Queen Bey' as she is called, rivaled the awards in a show-stopping ensemble. Sisters, Halle and Chloe Bailey both made statements on the red carpet, sporting risque gowns. Although Will Smith stole the show with his 'family protection act', his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, stole glances on the red carpet in a gargantuan dress by Jean Paul Gaultier, shoes by Jimmy Choo, and jewellery by Glenn Spiro.

Regina Hall in a diaphanous Vera Wang gown and Serena Williams in a plunging Gucci gown.

On the biggest night in the industry calendar, you can always expect extravagance, splendor, and a few surprises from Hollywood's finests.

These are some of the best and worst looks from that night.

Best Dressed

Beyoncé Queen Bey brought her usual A-game to the red carpet, wearing a custom Valentino look to the 2022 Academy Awards.

Chloe Bailey In a risqué LVDF purple gown.

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Halle Bailey

Jada Pinkett Smith

Made a statement in a draped turquoise Roberto Cavalli dress.

In a gargantuan dress by Jean Paul Gaultier, shoes

by Jimmy Choo, and jewellery by Glenn Spiro.

Megan Thee Stallion On the red carpet in a voluminous blue gown by Gaurav Gupta.

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FASHION

Zoë Kravitz Regina Hall In a diaphanous Vera Wang gown.

Following a streak of all-black looks worn on The Batman press tour, Kravitz wore pink Saint Laurent – and Kwiat jewellery.

Zendaya Bringing her red carpet A-game in Valentino and Bulgari jewellery.

Worst Dressed

Rickey Thompson Wearing GCDS which comes out a little too much and toning it down a little more than what it is, is required.

Weird.

Serena Williams Wearing a plunging Gucci gown.

Daniel Kaluuya A black shirt, elegant pants, and a pair of freshly polished shoes completed the Judas And The Black Messiah star's Oscar costume. Although his appearance from last year makes this outfit restrictive, he could do better.

Wesley Snipes Wearing formal shorts on the red carpet, He wore a monotone maroon ensemble. It would have been a great look but it just looks crazy.

Jay Ellis Wore Dolce & Gabbana to the 2022 Academy Awards.

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VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

ODUN OGUNBIYI

THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

ODDBOD & THE CITY

Sow What You Want To Reap EcoSchoolNG

I

hate public speaking, so I am not going to lie and say I was best pleased when I was asked to represent the GM of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) at an event last Thursday.

I tried every trick in my cunning little arsenal to get out of it to no avail; seriously you should have seen me whispering in the organisers’ ear about how “I really didn’t mind not going up to speak” as the event was running long.

All of that aside, I was in for a wonderful morning at the FABE EcoSchoolsNG close out ceremony.

FABE, Foundation for A Better Environment, has been around since 2008 and CEO Temitope Okunnu is all about Environmental health, climate action, sustainability, and education. Last year, the EcoSchoolNG program was launched in twenty public schools in Lagos and Ogun State.

The program aims to help and support these schools in becoming more environmentally conscious and provide the

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sustain an organic garden. It started with composting food waste from the cafeteria and collecting peels from fruit sellers in the area for example to make nutrient-rich soil for the garden. Using items that would usually make their way to trash heaps like old tyres, cement sacks, plastic bottles etc, to make pots and fences around the gardens. Finally, the children learnt how to germinate, tend, and harvest their crops.

These projects were not without hardships: participants reported flooding of gardens, loss of crops from animal grazing and outright theft but these schools did not give up. The rewards were evident and the pride in themselves and their work could not be quantified.

The most wonderful part of it all was that the participants are sharing what they have learnt. There was a teacher children with the who went as far as skills and knowledge teaching what she had that will allow them learnt to other schools to be the proud close to home and as EcoAmbassadors far out as Calabar. that our planet so A student who had desperately needs. collaborated with It started with his parent to start a teaching the vegetable garden at teacher’s course home, and now his which was an family is enjoying the online five-week fruits of his labour commitment from and not to forget the teachers and one student who school boards. Then clearly has found his followed teaching the entrepreneurial spirit students about planting with the upcycling of trees, composting, plastic bottles to ottomans. setting up organic gardens, I wish I had the presence recycling, and upcycling. of mind to have written down The most enjoyable part of the all the names so I could give program was the documentary and them a shout out here, but I was in the testimonials from the teachers and the moment and panicking about my students that participated. upcoming speech so please forgive me.

This is where you really understand that this program Congratulations to The EcoAmbassador has CHANGED LIVES. It was frankly amazing. The of the Year – Odeleye Elizabeth from children took to the streets around their school and Girls Senior High School and The homes collecting single-use plastic containers and, EcoCoordinator of the Year Mrs. with the help of the PAKAM app, they were able to Nduenso Ekepenyong from Aguda Senior arrange collection of the plastic and convert it into Grammar School. money. When it came to upcycling, the children Congratulations to all who supported learnt how to turn plastic bottles in to useful furniture. the program and I hope to see them What I was most impressed with however was the expanding their good works to more result of teaching the children how to build and schools around the country next year.

VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

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DOWNTOWN CONFIDENTIAL

Pain Series: CAN YOU

CANDLE HEAT?

BY TILEWA KAZEEM

C

an you smell it? Nothing beats the scents of Island Rose and African Geraniuminfused candles to get the creative juices flowing. Today's flashback isn't much of a flashback; it's just me reminiscing about the first time I heard this story. Icarus was the young man who was stranded with his father on the island of Crate. To flee, they fashioned wax and feather wings. As they flew away, the boy's father, Daedalus, warned him not to fly too close to the sun because the heat would melt the wax. Icarus, on the other hand, disregarded and disobeyed his father's advice, plummeting to his death. This story happens to be one of the most famous Greek stories in history and to learn how creative they got with wax blew my mind. The farthest I ever got with wax as a kid was making polish for a school practical. Little did I know that I was going to find out another use for wax albeit, very unorthodox.

What precisely am I referring to?

I'm referring to sexily dripping candle wax onto your partner (or yourself). Hot isn't it? Pleasure has always walked the razor's edge between it and pain for millennia.

Wax play, unlike the other arms of BDSM, is said to give you a rush of sexual excitement. The thrill of participating in something a little dangerous, as well as the anticipation of waiting for the wax to hit your skin, appears to stimulate more of your senses than just touch, enhancing pleasure and assisting you to be present in the moment. I'm sure devotees of a certain church are wondering about the need to waste perfectly good, and now expensive candles all in the name of pleasure. But sometimes, not everything needs looking, just leap. In hindsight, a lot of kinks and sexual activities ignited through exploration and shared experiences. If not, why would dripping hot wax on flesh sound sexy? But I was curious so, why not?

Orbiting right above my head, was a manicured hand holding an already lit body-safe massage candle and as I laid expectant for those first drops of molten wax

to hit my back, I closed my eyes, clenched my fists and wondered how I ended up shirtless in this girl’s bedroom.

They say social media is a crazy place. Well, it is. As a writer proud of his works, I occasionally post them online to keep people updated on what I'm working on. I had just posted a new article on one of my accounts and as usual, I got a few likes and some retweets there but no one ever fully engaged until Nel. “It's not always about the penis you know” she had quoted my article about all sizes and a little part of me was curious. I wanted to see what she had to say so I responded “Then what is it about?”

She didn't reply until the next day but the wait seemed worth it.

“PLEASURE, Ever had hot wax gracefully poured on your skin? I promise you, the pleasure is second to none.”

Of course not. It is piping hot wax!

I used to play with wax when I was little. I'd pour it onto my palm, watch it solidify, break it off and repeat the process.

I never tried it on my actual skin. My palm was hard so there wasn't any worry of it breaking skin. But as for pouring it on my flesh, I wasn't so sure. After reading up on it and losing the battle to my inner journalist, I adamantly agreed. She invited me to go shopping with her and we bonded a bit before we returned to her place. I learnt what type of candle works best (body-safe candles because they burn at low heat), the importance of a safe word (ours was cabbage patch), having water around in case something goes wrong

ORIGINAL IMAGE FROM PINTEREST

and I combust all in the name of pleasure and stay away from anything flammable.

“Cabbage patch!”

“Cabbage patch!!”

I got up, wore my shirt, and got the hell out of there. Wasn't ready to burn all in the name of pleasure. How would I explain it to my parents? I know this isn't good for my reputation in these streets but I don't feel bad about it. To anyone brave enough to try this, I advise you to blow out the candle first. Don't say I didn't do anything good for you. *Blows out candle*

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VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

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COVER

A

SIMBI

WABOTE On Building A Sustainable Oil And Gas Industry Through Local Content Development

PAGE 8

t a time when developed countries have made an enemy of fossil fuel in a bid to go green with renewable energy, Nigeria, and her neighbouring African countries, are still trying to get a hang of how to build a sustainable oil and gas industry. How has a country so blessed with crude oil not found a solution to the perpetual crisis that constantly looms over the oil and gas sector? Throughout Nigeria's history, spanning military regimes and democratic leaderships, this question has been posed with no inkling of where the solution might come from. In a beam of hope, thanks to strategic thinking, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was formed within the NNPC with the ultimate aim of attaining sustainability. But it was always bound to be a long-term project.

In 2016, Engr. Simbi K. Wabote was appointed as the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB by President Muhammadu Buhari to oversee the creation of local content, and six years later, the beam of hope shines. To understand the nittygritty of what local content development entails and for a better picture of what our future looks like with respect to fossil fuel, DOWNTOWN’s Publisher, Austyn Ogannah and writer, Kehindé Fagbule sat with the man trusted to solve this problem, Simbi Wabote.

Simbi Wabote wasn't always a civil servant, he has worked in the private sector for a considerably long amount of time throughout his illustrious career. Although a bulk of that was with Shell, Wabote started his career in the banking sector where he was at for a short stint after graduating from Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt as a Civil Engineer. He explains, “In those days —when we graduated— was the emergence of new generation banks and these new generation banks were actually looking for analytical people. A lot of people who eventually joined the bank were engineers because they wanted people who could analyse, people who are technically minded to come into the bank, it was an era of new generation banks. So when we graduated, a lot of us felt it was the place to be because the new generation banks just came in with a lot of flavours, their pay was much better than the orthodox bank so to speak. I got into All States Trust Bank for a year plus.

But as an engineer, my mind has always been to work for a technical firm, so when the opportunity came to join Shell, I had to resign to join Shell. It was in vogue then for technical people to be in the bank, we all thought that was the place to be. When you see the bankers dressed up in their suits and everything, it was very attractive. But no regret that one left the bank.”

Before getting his deserved political appointment, Wabote was the Executive Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Nigeria Limited and the General Manager Business and Government Relations for Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN). He has been in office for six years ever since. When asked what his biggest challenges are since the transitioning from the private sector to the public sector, he said, “I think in a nutshell, my biggest challenge coming from a private sector into the public sector is in the private sector, you know who your stakeholders

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COVER ...I believe by virtue of my training that ‘you must know where you are going before you start the journey'. So based on that, we had the 10year strategic roadmap and said by 2027, we are going to have 70% local content achieved in-country...” are, whereas, in the public sector, you don't even know who your stakeholders are. You know clearly that in the private sector, you're not dealing with somebody's wife as your stakeholder. You know your stakeholders and you could map them. Trying to adjust to that reality is a challenge.

Secondly, when the thought processes are not fully aligned, you're doing your best possible to move things forward, and in the same sector that you belong to, they are dragging you back, it's a challenge.

Another thing is with the people. As you very well know, capacity building is a huge challenge in the public sector. These are some of the major ones that you can think of. I think the opportunity thereof is also the nature of the present administration. Clearly so, the president to a large extent does not interfere in the activities of the people he appointed. He doesn't have any interference as it used to be in the past when they will call you from the Villa. So if you're not able to perform and do what you're supposed to do, then you're not competent. I have been on this seat for six years and there's not a day I have had that kind of influential phone call of anybody calling me from the Villa to say “I'm from the Presidency.” People will try, but I believe personally it's your prerogative; nobody is asking them to do that. I've had instances when some people tried and I tested the water: it doesn't exist.

So he gave a lot of his appointees free-hand to do the right thing, which is very good compared to how it used to be in the past.”

His impressive work with the NCDMB has positioned the oil and gas sector of the country as an enviable one, so much so that neighbouring African countries ask us for direction on how to make more local content production in-country. Last month, the NCDMB hosted fellow oil-rich African countries at the maiden edition of the African Local Content Investment Forum.

When we asked him to explain what he does in layman's terms, he replied, “The idea is that in Nigeria, we've made a lot of progress with regard to the local content development in the oil and gas sector. Before we started, the oil industry used to spend about 21 billion dollars year on year in our activities and less than 5 billion of that remained in the country. The bulk of what we do — conceptual design, detail design, frontend design, fabrication, and so on— is done outside the country. What comes back into the country is finished products. The only reason why it comes back is because they can't take the oil away from the Niger Delta,

they can't drill it from Houston or anywhere else, and so we come back. Less than 5% of that 21 billion dollars, contextually, remains in the country, up until the advent of local content. We started pushing the boundaries, getting Nigerians to participate because when you look at the oil and gas value chain, that's why we still suffer till today because we saw oil as a commodity—we sell, we get taxes, we get royalties, and that's all the government depended on. They didn't see it as a resource, because the byproduct of crude is quite enormous. 70% of the products that did everything in this dining area, including this table [points to the table across from him], are all byproducts of crude. But we don't take any derivatives out of it. The sorry thing again is that we export the crude, and then import petrol, diesel and the likes. So somewhere along the line, some thinkers during the days of Obasanjo started saying “we need to participate in the value chain of oil and gas,” and then the discussion around local content started. I think they enunciated the policy then. And they talked to themselves, ‘where will they situate the policy so that it drives local content development?’ So they created a content unit within NNPC to start to drive local content.

The unit came out with what they called ‘the 23 directives’ basically saying ‘henceforth this and that has to be done in Nigeria.’ I was on the other side, I was in Shell, and we saw the difficulties in implementing those directives and we argued that there was no legal basis for it. If you try your best and push comes to shove, you tell them “there's no legal basis to do it.” I think then that galvanised the national assembly to then start the process of passing a law to tie it to a legal framework. It took about eight years for that act to go through the assembly and it was passed into law in April 2010 and signed into law by President Jonathan. So that was the birth of local content as it were. And it has a lot of provisions, it has a schedule that says ‘these are the percentages that must be done in the country.’ The law itself is futuristic, if we have to wait for some of the things it demands to happen, we won't produce oil and gas. For example, it says all steel structures have to be procured in the country—we don't have a steel rolling mill and stuff like that, so it's futuristic. So we started implementing the law. Today as we speak, we've taken that ‘less than 5%’ to about 42% Nigerian participation. It is a 10-year plus strategic plan. Part of it is when I came in in 2016, the people before me have pushed the boundary up to like 25%.

So when I came into the position, I then developed the ‘10-year strategic roadmap’, because I believe by virtue of my training that ‘you must know where you are going before you start the journey. So based on that, we had the 10-year strategic roadmap and said by 2027, we are going to have 70% local content achieved in-country. From 2016 till now, we've moved it from that 25% up to 42%. 98% of the contracts given out in the oil and gas industry are given out to Nigerians. All activities between the land and swamp are set aside for Nigerian companies.

Today, in oil servicing, almost 99% of oil service activities are done by Nigerians.

These are guys who open their shop, taking advantage of the local content act.”

Part of the mandate that Wabote’s office holds is to invest in strategic parts of the local content. His smart investments have birthed three modular refineries owned

by Nigerians. He explains how this was

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COVER

One is because we are not refining locally; we are import-dependent on refined products, so anything can happen if you don't have a process to quality-check the products that come in. Take it or leave, anywhere in the world, people get involved in all manner of things to maximize profit and if you're not looking properly, you will be a victim to it.” achieved saying, “Part of our strategies is to catalyse government pronouncements. Don't forget that we are a regulatory agency, so we don't participate in competing businesses, we rather catalyse government pronouncements. In the process, we got involved in a lot of gas projects, 70% of our investments today are on gas projects and 30% on modular refineries. So we have about five of them that we have taken equity positions in. The whole idea is to catalyse it, once they start producing and making money, they buy us out. In most of them, we don't want to stay there for the long run.”

Make no mistake, the oil and gas industry is still swamped with flaws. Just recently, Nigerians’ frustrations were heightened when contaminated fuel was in circulation. Wabote explains why that happened; “One is because we are not refining locally, we are import-dependent on refined products, so anything can happen if you don't have a process to quality-check the products that come in. Take it or leave, anywhere in the world, people get involved in all manner of things to maximise profit and if you're not looking properly, you will be a victim to it. I'm sure the corporation perhaps in good faith asked people to bring in these products and they brought adulterated products so to speak, which has a lot of methanol content beyond the acceptable limit. As I said, the only way we can deal with this is when we begin to refine our crude oil ourselves. Venezuela for example has the second largest deposit of crude oil in the world. By the last time I checked, when they are refining, they refine everything they produce and export the refined products. Because they see crude as a resource and not a commodity. But we see crude oil as a commodity. What that means is that the byproduct of that resource is enormous compared to selling that resource as a commodity. But like I said, in another three years’ time, if all the plans go as agreed, we will become a net exporter of refined products. Did we come in late? Yes. Is it better late than never? Yes. That is where we are.”

Our love-hate relationship with the petroleum industry goes a long way. On January 1, 2012, when former President, Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of fuel subsidy, which bumped up the

PAGE 10

pump price of petrol from 65 Naira per litre to 141 Naira, it sparked the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ mass protests that happened across major cities of the country. Today, the payment of fuel subsidy continues, eating deep into a national budget that could use some uplifting. When asked what his thoughts on it were, Wabote revealed, “Personally, I think it's the wrong thing to do. We shouldn't be spending all the money—as I said, it's a funny thing, you produce crude oil, export it and then you buy PMS back into the country and you subsidise that PMS in the country. Today, the price of petrol in Uganda is almost 700 Naira equivalent per litre, and they are surviving. The people are doing their business and they are still where they are. So every money we make, and the danger is this: the higher the oil price, the more the subsidy. And that's where all the money is going. Somebody said the other day, “last month, NNPC contributed zero to the federation account.”

So you spend all that money on subsidies, yet Nigerians want roads, railways, power, and so on, but all the money is going into subsidy. Having said that, in my view, you can only decide to take out a subsidy when you can produce the commodity yourself. Today if you take out subsidy, and then demand the product, you're still going to bring it from outside, so you are at the mercy of those producing it and the marketers. Because as important as PMS is, the marketers can tell you that “today they've added $2.” Then what are you going to do? You still have to ask them to bring in the product. So I believe that the strategic thing to do is when we become sufficient in the in-country production of the product, then you can deal with the subsidy squarely.”

He continued, “Also, let the people have a line of sight to what you want to do with that money you have been using to pay subsidy because that's always been the problem; we've done it severally, we increase the price of fuel, create an agency, PTF, to utilise the fund and all of a sudden, that disappears again. My take is we should focus on making sure that we enhance our refining capacity in-country and thereafter we can then

take off the subsidy as far as I'm concerned.”

Another issue that has piled on the sector's misery over the years is oil theft perpetrated by average Nigerians within the oil regions.

According to the NNPC, about 150,000 to 200,000 barrels of crude oil are lost to thieves daily, undoing whatever little progress the NNPC could hold onto. Although not part of his agency's mandate, we asked Wabote if the NCDMB has plans to clamp down on this lingering issue. He responded, “It is not part of my mandate as such but then again, because we are all in the same sector, if you have an opportunity to educate Nigerians and those involved in it, you will seize it. So yes, we do a lot of that. Part of our mandate is capacity building, organizing workshops, seminars, and the rest of that, clearly written in the law. So we use those forums to try to educate the dangers of oil theft like what they're doing in places like Rivers and Bayelsa where they are cooking crude. People come to me and say these are artisanal miners, what can you do to support them? I say to them, “these are people stealing crude, they are not artisanal miners.” The difference between solid mineral miners and oil thieves is that the artisanal miners go to the mines and dig holes to get what they want to get.

They are not stealing anybody's already-made production. Whereas the illegal miners steal crude that has been produced by someone else and sent through their pipelines. That's outright stealing. So it's different what's going on in the Niger Delta which is causing a lot of issues, people don't realise the health hazard associated with it, the environmental pollution. In 20 to 30 years, if people are really studying the effects of those activities, they will begin to see the medical effect of what's going on in that region. Sadly, it's what the NNPC suffer, that's a lot of money that the country is losing, and it's part of the reason why some of the IOCs are also tired of dealing with these issues and they're talking about how they want to rationalise their portfolio and go deeper where people cannot access and do such things. It's all part of the reason.

If you go to the Niger Delta today, the level of environmental degradation is unbelievable.

Partly as a result of the activities of the oil and gas companies, but I can tell you the majority is because of crude theft and sabotage.”

Between the subsidy conversation and the insane oil theft, the average Nigerian doesn't understand the nitty-gritty details of what the petroleum industry entails. Wabote talked about what he thinks of the industry, “I think the petroleum industry act is a good thing that has happened to the country. It's a legislation that has been out there for over 20 years and once there is that kind of legislation that is not coming to an end, it creates a lot of apprehensions. There is nothing that capital is afraid of than uncertainty, and for a very long time, the petroleum industry bill created that level of uncertainty in the country where most IOCs didn't want to invest in some mega projects because they don't know what the physical regime would be and what would be some of the requirements within the act itself. In those days, we used to argue that it is either you pass a good bill or a bad bill, irrespective of what it is, pass the act so everybody knows what is on the table. Eventually, after 20 years —kudos to Mr. President— they had to work to pass the act —which is historical— after so many tries. Today the act has been passed to law and it removes that uncertainty, which is one

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THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

COVER “Another issue that has piled on the sector's misery over the years is oil theft perpetrated by average Nigerians within the oil regions. According to the NNPC, about 150,000 to 200,000 barrels of crude oil are lost to thieves daily…” advantage. I think it's a good thing. Is it perfect? Of course not. Will there be areas of improvement in the future?

Yes, there will be. But at least we know for a certainty this is what it is.”

Born in 1966, Wabote has earned a title as a man of industry, but he is not all work and no play. Despite his packed schedule, the 56-year-old golfs regularly. When asked about it, he smirks in his response, “I think that's very important, one has to stay alive because take it or leave it, if you drop dead today, there will be so many people lining up to take your job. It's happened to several people. So you need to exercise the mind, body and if you like, get together with friends.

My best hobby right now is golfing. I try to sacrifice most weekends to play golf. During the weekdays I can't. Let me tell you how I find my timing with regards to playing golf. On Saturdays, we have this habit to say “oh it's not a working day, so let's sleep till about 10 am or so.” So I decided to say no I won't sleep, I will still wake up about 7 am to go and play golf. On Sundays usually when we come back from church, normally we'd just go to sleep; I also sacrificed that. I go straight to play golf as soon as I come back from church. It helps the mind and body. In a game of golf, by the time you finish 18 holes, you've walked about 8.4km and you're not just walking, you're bending, hitting, hosting, breathing fresh air. So if I play golf during the weekend and don't do any exercise during the weekday, then I don't feel guilty. But if I don't, I feel really guilty that I need to do something. So I try to find the time. And any opportunity I have that is not a working day or I travel, I try to play golf.” In addition to golfing, he also swims, although not as often.

Wabote is also a family man, he is a father to three daughters. He told us about his girls, “My first daughter, Nengi, is going to be 25 this year, my second, Tonye, will be 23 and the last one, Preye, 21. Tonye is working currently in DC, she's finished her master's, so she's a financial analyst in a firm in DC (Washington, US). Nengi is working with a set design company as an architect in New York. Preye is in Reading reading law, hoping to graduate next year.”

With his kids abroad, Wabote is home with just his wife. When asked if

this was the dynamics, Wabote responded saying, “Absolutely. But again, you know the Nigerian thing; you and your wife and a lot of dependents that you have to also look at. And I think at this age, you just want to help as many people as possible. But for my kids, I'm sure by the grace of God next year, the last one will be done with school, and then I will get back to marrying my wife again.”

Wabote's life is not without its fair share of publicised drama. Late last year, he dragged Jackson Ude—the editor-in-chief of Pointblanknews.com, a Nigerian journalist living in the US— to a court, in the eastern district of Pennsylvania, in a defamation suit.

A story on Pointblanknews which accused Wabote of bribery and corruption in the Bonny NLNG contract is the subject of the libel suit. When asked for a comment on it, the executive secretary responded saying, “It's a matter in court. Under normal circumstances like you know, if people were doing things right, you don't begin to discuss matters in court, that would be sub judice, and I respect the court process, so I guess we should wait for the court process.” Pressing further, when asked if he's willing to pursue it till the very end, he replied, “It's in court like I said. It's up to the parties to decide whether to take it out of court or not. I have always been open to out-of-court settlements and I've made that known severally. But again, as you know, all these court cases, it gets to a point of no return where you can't back off anymore. So it's still in court and I usually don't like discussing the details of it out of respect for the court process. Nobody wants to be in court. I believe in dispute resolution, even in the business that I do. But it's up to the other party to come to the table and say we can take things out of court.”

Over the years, the oil and gas sector has been marred by several issues, one of which is the militancy insurgency in the Niger Delta. When asked what he makes of it, Wabote said, “There's no militancy anymore. We've crossed that hurdle. We should be talking about the insurgency in the Northeast and the banditry in the north and the southeast too. Niger Delta is peaceful.

If you were there when it was militancy, we couldn't even produce. We reduced our crude production from 2 million barrels to about 500,000 per day. But today, nothing is inhibiting anyone from producing. So there's no insurgency in the Niger Delta.”

Wabote has made a good job of his position thus far. With the elections coming up next year, it is a rather common sight to see government appointees vie for elected positions. When asked if he sees elective politics in his future, Wabote said he doesn't know. Sometimes, the decision to run is influenced by people. When we asked him what his reaction would be if he were to be drafted, he responded, “Do they draft them? I thought it was only in the NBA they draft people [laughs]. It is up to you to make a decision. I'm not a politician, strictly speaking. My polling booth, as I speak to you, is in Lagos here. I don't hold any political party card, so it's not on the cards. So long as I hold this position, I am serving the government for now. Because the tendency is that people always believe that once you get an appointment, it is a pedestal for wanting to run for public office. That is not my thing.

Even if I decide, I will finish my work and step out to make a decision that this is what I want to do. I will not use the powers of the office to get into politics.”

With Wife, Sotty Wabote

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VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

BEAUTY

Rahel Brhane

DISCARD FACIAL WIPES Yes, using face wipes may seem like a quick, easy way to remove your makeup, but they are not doing much good to your skin and the environment. Lots of makeup wipes strip the skin off its natural oils and imbalance the skin's pH levels as most contain alcohol and they are the least effective way of cleansing. Instead of using face wipes, switch to a reusable face pad. This will remove all traces of makeup whilst deep cleansing your skin, and once you’re done you can simply wash it off to use later.

Sustainable

Beauty Tips

Bamboo Reusable Make-up Pad TURATA

BY SOPHIA EDISI

W

ith the rapid global growth of the cosmetics/skincare industry and major brands launching new product lines several times a year, product upgrades, new colours or packaging, new research has shown that the beauty and skincare industries have a negative impact on the environment. Sustainability in the broad sense simply means doing no harm to people, animals, and the planet. For beauty, major brands are now considering developing their products in packaging that can be reused or recycled. They encourage consumers to use up their products before buying new ones and also limit the number of products they release a year.

Here are simple ways that a beauty routine could be sustainable for you.

Sensibio H2O Micellar Water BIODERMA

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THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

BEAUTY

USE ALL PRODUCTS TO THE LAST DROP For some unexplainable reasons, most people are very good at stockpiling beauty products, only to find out that they often have over a month's worth of expired product left inside the bottle or tube that they think is almost empty.

Why replace a product or jump to the next best thing when you still have a month's supply left? That’s you literally throwing away money in the garbage. Always have the mindset of getting what you paid for and not wasting products. One beauty product that women never ever finish is eyeshadow. If you easily get bored and tired of using a product for long, you should consider getting them in smaller quantities or sizes.

Hydrating Hand Sanitizer Spray OLIKA

A BAR SOAP OR REFILLABLE PRODUCTS Using bar soaps is one of the easiest and most thoughtful ways to take a step towards minimizing plastic waste. Not ready to give up the liquid suds? Then opt for refillable hand or body wash. Use this duo to prevent fewer plastics in the home. Some beauty enthusiasts never really get used to bar method, until they try some newly launched products which last longer than the bottled ones.

TRY A 2-IN-1 For some people, two-in-one products are their all-time favourite items.

They save space on your cabinets and these options for body and hair products shorten your shower time, reduce water consumption, and save you time by not having to do the two separate steps.

The Crème Soft Clear Soap NIVEA

4in1 Wink Mascara ZARON COSMETICS

Daily Moisture 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner DOVE

Beta Brows Pencil NUBAN BEAUTY

SA Cleanser Bar CERAVE

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VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

BY BOLUWATIFE ADESINA

THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Encanto Cast Performs-We Don’t Talk About Bruno

Jessica Chastain Best-Actress

Troy Kotsur SupportingActor

Will Smith Best-Actor

T

he 94th Academy Awards was weird, chaotic, and rather emblematic of our post-pandemic world. Typically a night to celebrate the brilliance of cinema (and its many ahem…excesses), this year’s event seemed more interested in attracting as many eyes as possible, forgetting the core reason for the awards ceremony existing at all. Several guest presenters had little to nothing to do with film in general, much less the films they presented. (Case in point: A snowboarder, a skater, and a surfer paid tribute to James Bond). In the spirit of the ceremony, I’d like to hand out a few awards of my own.

Encanto Cast Performs-We Don’t Talk About Bruno

LOSER: WE DON’T TALK ABOUT BRUNO We Don’t Talk About Bruno, the inescapable hit from the Pixar film Encanto, wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar, but its viral popularity is likely what fueled the creative choice to drop a performance of the song smack in the middle of the award show. Unfortunately, the whole thing was kind of a mess.

Perhaps it would have been better to open the show with the song, swapping places with Beyoncé’s (also pre-taped!

There’s a trend here) tennis court performance of Be Alive from King Richard, but even in that scenario, I’m not sure “Bruno” would’ve landed. The original singers were present, alongside singers Luis Fonsi and Becky G, but the seams showed as the performers twirled around the screen, waiting for an unlikely guest to show up: Megan Thee Stallion? It’s unclear what the connection is between the film and the rapper, besides a very transparent bid for more goodwill from young people (as if making the song trend on TikTok wasn’t enough). Also, the lyrics were changed to be about the Oscars itself, which was beyond corny, but of course, the desperation of this institution continues to shine through.

But they tried, as usual! We would’ve been better off not talking about “Bruno” at all.

Dune Actors -Zendaya & Timothee Chalamet

WINNER: DUNE SUPREMACY Denis Vilnueve’s space opera was my favourite film up for awards at the Oscars this year. An audiovisual masterpiece, Dune won Six awards at the event but, due to some strange reasoning by the producers of the telecast, only two of these awards were shown live on stage. The rest were relegated to pre-taped segments, denying the great Hans Zimmer a chance to celebrate his first Oscar win since 1994. The awards won were: Best Sound, Best Achievement in Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Achievement in Cinematography.

Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock

PAGE 14

CODA At The Oscars

WINNER: CHAOS

A number of unexpected winners emerged in some of the major categories, surprising many and confusing others.

CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) took home the prestigious Best Picture award despite being nominated in just Three categories. It beat out Dune, Licorice Pizza, and the favourite for the award, Netflix’s The Power of The Dog. Now, CODA is a good film. Heartfelt and emotional, its story needed to be seen. However, I and quite a few other people did not think it had a shot at winning the award.

The producers also made sure to playoff winners who did get to receive their awards live, during the broadcast, such as Drive My Car director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Dune visual effects supervisor Gard Nefzer, and Cruella costume designer Jenny Beavan. Their time was presumably cut short to honor Pulp Fiction’s landmark 28th anniversary (28!) by watching John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance near Samuel L. Jackson acceptance speech for winning an honorary Oscar was also not included in the broadcast, because who wants to see that?

LOSER: EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE “SLAP HEARD AROUND THE WORLD”

As weird as the show had been to that point, nothing could’ve prepared the world for what would happen roughly 30 minutes to the end of the telecast when Will Smith walked up to the stage and slapped Chris Rock, who had made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

This moment inadvertently ended up being the eye-puller that the Academy and ABC (who broadcast the event) were hoping for. You saw it, everyone did. The incident that spawned a million takes was shocking both because it was so unexpected and because it made the awards feel abruptly intimate — not some distant glitzy gathering but a work event for a constricted group of people with its own internal hierarchies and long-standing grudges. Will Smith getting up out of his front-row seat and walking the relatively short distance onto the stage to smack Chris Rock was a breaking of protocol, and it was also a breaking of the Oscars pretense that this is the night Hollywood gets together to enjoy its own company. It’s an industry function, and plenty of industries have their own star system and awards, and they’re probably all as messy — they’re just not televised. 'The Slap' has understandably commanded the most attention, but it’s the speech that Smith gave not long after, when accepting the award for Best Actor, that was the most uncomfortable and mesmerising part of the evening.

Smith, tears streaming down his face, made an astounding attempt to find some reasonable connection between what he’d done earlier and his role in King Richard, to arrive at the sort of platitude that regularly gets used to connect screen work to some larger issue. But he couldn’t quite get there in his ramble, which eventually resolved itself into an acknowledgment, a mention of his mother, and something closer to an apology.

Shocking moments have a way of overshadowing everything around them, whereas beautiful ones can elevate an entire show. But what’s often beautiful about the Academy Awards is natural; it’s the jubilance of winners, the electricity of a live show, and the unifying love everyone feels for movies themselves. This year’s Oscars actively sought to destroy each of those foundational elements.

They pared down the winners, they zapped the energy by pre-taping key segments (not even Beyoncé was live!

Beyoncé!), and they reaffirmed many fans’ worst fears: that the people putting on the Oscars appeared to hate the Oscars.

VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

BY BOLUWATIFE ADESINA Movie Review:

AMBULANCE

A

s painful as it might be to admit, it’s the perfect time for Michael Bay to make a comeback. Cinemas need big, bold crowd-pleasers, and there’s noone bigger or bolder than the man behind the Bad Boys and Transformers franchises.

His new film is called Ambulance, but those thinking this will be a sensitive ode to first responders are in for a shock.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Will, an army veteran with a wife who needs an expensive surgery. He turns to his adoptive brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), a career criminal, for help. Danny is planning to rob $35 million from a Los Angeles bank, and with no options left Will agrees to help. Things go south quickly when an officer arrives at the wrong time, and is shot in the resulting chaos. The brothers steal the ambulance caring for him, with paramedic Cam (Eiza Gonzalez) trying to keep the officer alive while Will and Danny evade capture in a frantic car chase around The City of Angels.

All the tricks in Bay’s toolbox are present and correct. Cars race down sun-bleached LA streets, overshadowed by helicopters, with the whole thing captured on a camera that can’t sit still. It’s as if Bay is

paying homage to himself, which in a way he is; he even references his own work when a character quotes from The Rock. Still, there’s a pleasing familiarity to the execution that keeps you entertained: brainless, but never boring.

The script offers a cast of sarcastic, hypermasculine characters, with even hostage Cam being quickly established as a no-nonsense maverick who gets the job done. Gonzalez has little to do other than shout at Gyllenhaal and look into the middle distance, but she adds emotional stakes to this live-action Grand Theft Auto mission. Abdul-Mateen, recently wasted as the new Morpheus in The Matrix: Resurrections, is an interesting anti-hero, doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and never losing your sympathy.

The film is made for Gyllenhaal, however, as the kind of fast-talking sleazebag who fits perfectly in these movies. Moving at a million miles an hour, his energy matches the pace of the film as he once again proves more effective as a villain simply because he seems to be having a lot more fun. It’s not exactly Nightcrawler, but he has a presence that elevates the madness.

Ending as puzzlingly as it began, Ambulance is not a smart movie, and is unlikely to win any new fans for The God of Explosions. However, if you want to switch your brain off and watch things blow up, there are worse ways to spend two hours.

6.5/10

Watch of the Week Bridgerton Season 2

Bridgerton is back this week, and yes, there will be bodices ripped, smelling salts fetched, and pearls definitely clutched. Disappointment however, awaits thirsty viewers tuning in for a glimpse of Rege-Jean Page. However, season 2 still brings plenty of heat with the addition of Sex Education’s Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma.

The second of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series focuses on eldest son Anthony’s (Jonathan Bailey) misadventures in the marriage market. The Viscount Who Loved Me is Quinn’s clever take on Shakespheare’s Taming of the Shrew, with reformed/reforming Anthony as our

Scan this with your camera to access the playlist (Apple Music)

Scan this with your camera to access the playlist (Spotify)

Playlist for the week

Rema-Calm Down

Fireboy DML - Playboy

Rema; Chris Brown - Time N Affection

Udu Ovraiti - You Don't Have to Say

Basketmouth; Buju - Your Body

River Tiber; Daniel Caesar West

Denzel Curry; T-Pain - Troubles [Feat. T-Pain]

Tyla; Kooldrink - Getting Late

Mariya Takeuchi - Plastic Love

Petruchio and Ashley’s Kate as our Katherine. If you fell hard for Simon Basset and his spoon, get ready to go head over heels for Kate. She’s an outsider in London Society trying to ensure a successful match for younger sister Edwina (the lovely Charithra Chandran).

Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), hoping for an “interesting” season, named young Edwina as the season’s “diamond of the first water”. That’s enough for Viscount Bridgerton who feels he deserves the best and nothing less. The only problem is Edwina’s sister is dead set against the match from the beginning. Further complicating the matter is Anthony’s undeniable attraction to the thorny spitfire Kate.

At 26, Kate is already considered a spinster by bon ton rules. Still, that doesn’t stop her and the Viscount from setting fires wherever they go. Knowing derision from his brothers Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Colin (Luke Newton) and concerned, knowing looks from sister Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) meet Anthony’s constant frustration at Kate’s meddling. The conflicted attraction to Kate is so apparent, the looks so smoldering, it’s incredible that his mother, Lady Violet (Ruth Gemmell), and Kate’s sponsor Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), don’t notice. In fact, it’s a bit of a miracle Kate isn’t bursting into flames every

time she gets within spitting distance of Viscount.

For her part, Kate is wary of Anthony, but is wise enough to recognize how well they mesh. She understands how intoxicating it can be to just vibe on an intellectual, emotional, and physical level with someone. Her determination to do what is best for her sister makes her a bit of a martyr, but as Lady Danbury says, “you can’t resign yourself to happy spinsterhood when you haven’t even lived.”

While the Viscount is busy with his complicated feelings on love, marriage, and legacy, Eloise (Claudia Jessie) is dealing with her own entry into the marriage market. Not satisfied with the tedium of domestic life, Eloise has yet to learn that the cerebral and the physical are not mutually exclusive.

This season her antics land her directly in Her Majesty’s crosshairs as a potential Lady Whistledown.

Meanwhile, Eloise’s BFF, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), continues trying to keep her friendship with Eloise and her secret identity as the genuine Lady

Freddie Gibbs ft Madlib & BJ The Chicago Kid - Shame Whisteldown intact.

Undoubtedly, the one-two punch of no Simon Basset and much less on-screen sex this season will frustrate fans. Still, those looking for exquisite costumes and smoldering slow burns are in luck.

For all its sexy delights, Season 1 is much shakier than this more confident and more restrained second season. Thankfully, there isn’t so much as a whiff of dubious consent. It’s an absolute joy to see the chemistry between Bailey and Ashley as the season unfolds.

Patient viewers are in for some wonderfully toe-curling moments.

B+

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VOL 2 NO.14 • APRIL 03 - APRIL 09, 2022

THEWILL DOWNTOWN • www.thewilldowntown.com

websights DOWNTOWN

BY KEHINDÉ FAGBULE

EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS,

Including The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Dissecting That Will Smith’s Oscar

Last week at the Oscars, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face onstage, stunning viewers across the world and causing a slew of vehement debates on social media.

The Altercation

Rock joined the Oscars stage well into the ceremony as the presenter for Best Documentary. Continuing in form as a stand-up comic, Rock laid into the crowd with unscripted barbs. After making quips about Denzel Washington and Javier Bardem, Rock turned his attention to Jada Pinkett Smith, saying he was looking forward to seeing her in 'G.I. Jane II'. Pinkett Smith was sporting a buzzcut, just like Demi Moore’s character in the 1997 film G.I. Jane.

But Pinkett Smith, who is currently battling alopecia, has been open about her struggles with hair loss and bald spots caused by the autoimmune disorder. Last December, she documented her decision to shave her head on Instagram. “Mama’s gonna have to take it down to the scalp so nobody thinks she got brain surgery or something,” she wrote.

“Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!”

Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes after Rock’s joke, while Smith was shown laughing. The Oscars telecast then went mute for a spell as Smith, who was sitting in the front row, strode onstage and hit Rock across the face. Telecasts in other countries aired the sound of the slap, as well as the exchange that came next: “Will Smith just smacked the sh-t out of me,” said a stunned Rock. Smith responded: “Keep my wife’s name out your f–king mouth,” and repeated the phrase.

PAGE 16

Chris And The Smith's Rocky History It’s not the first time Rock has made a joke about the couple at the Oscars.

When Rock hosted the Oscars in 2016, he brought the couple up in the context of the #OscarsSoWhite boycott, which Pinkett Smith supported. “Jada’s going to boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna‘s panties. I wasn’t invited!” he said. At the time, a sizable amount of people thought the joke was insulting and a particular Twitter user tweeted that Rock ought to be punched by Smith for it.

Pinkett Smith brushed off the insult when she was asked about it a few days later by the paparazzi. “It comes with the territory, we gotta keep it moving,” she said. “We got a lot of stuff we gotta handle, a lot of stuff going on in our world right now.”

Rock has crossed paths with Smith and Pinkett Smith many times over their collective years in the limelight. Rock appeared on a 1995 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, playing Smith’s character’s date for an evening. Rock and Pinkett Smith were part of the main voice cast of the Madagascar franchise; a 2012 video interview shows them joking around together about the movie and music.

The year before that, Rock delivered a routine about Smith on The Late Show

With David Letterman, pretending to complain about the success of Smith’s children, Jaden and Willow Smith. “The guy’s already taking parts from me. Now, his kids are taking parts from my kids. Will Smith, don’t you have enough?” he told Letterman.

In 2018, Rock responded snarkily to an Instagram post that Smith wrote celebrating his ex-wife Sheree Zampino’s birthday, writing: “Wow. You have a very understanding wife.”

And last Sunday, Rock’s joke wasn’t the first of the evening to target the couple.

When co-host Regina Hall delivered a bit insinuating she wanted to sleep with many of the famous actors at the Oscars, she poked fun at the couple’s marital situation, which Smith has acknowledged is an open relationship. “You’re married, but you know what? You’re on the list, and it looks like Jada approved you, so you get on up here!” Hall said to Smith.

Will’s Teary Acceptance Speech

But the drama wasn’t over. Smith was still heavily favoured to win the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, which was slated to be announced later in the telecast. For about an hour, viewers both in the Dolby Theater and at home held their collective breath for the possibility that Smith would be forced to address the incident on centre stage.

Eventually, Smith’s name was called by the cast of Pulp Fiction, and he came to the stage, teary-eyed, and delivered a five-minute acceptance speech. In the speech, he apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees, and drew parallels between himself and his character Williams—the father of Venus and Serena Williams—arguing that his actions amounted to him standing up for his family. “I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees,” he said before adding, “Just like they said, I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.”

An Overflow Of Reactions

The reaction to the incident was deafening, with opinions flowing in from all angles. Tiffany Haddish, who was at the Oscars, told People Magazine that it was “the most beautiful thing I ever seen,” adding, “When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife, that meant so much to me.”

On the other side, comedians like Kathy Griffin worried about the ripple effects that could come from a highly publicized display of violence in reaction to a joke.

Although Will Smith eventually posted an apology on his Instagram account, the hot takes weren't bound to end. Here are some of them.