Glorification of Sexual Assault - Adrian Brody Kisses Halle Berry at the Oscars

It was a March evening in the year 2003. The 75th Annual Academy Awards were on TV and Halle Berry had just stepped up to announce the Oscar for Best Actor. “And the Oscar goes to….”, after the familiar pause, she said, “Adrian Brody!” Uproarious applause exploded and the camera followed Adrian Brody as he walked onto stage and towards Berry. But instead of the usual quick hug and peck on the cheek, Brody grabbed Halle Berry, dipped her, and gave her a passionate kiss on her lips that lasted a good 6 seconds!! I was shocked enough to bolt to an upright seating position from my usual reclining one on the couch. Did I just see Halle Berry get sexually assaulted in front of millions of people?

But everyone else on screen seemed unfazed. Berry, who was the wife of Eric Benet at the time, played along, and after Brody let her out of his tight embrace, she laughed and acted like whatever happened was perfectly fine, even though her body language and facial expression betrayed her displeasure and discomfort. The stars in the audience whose faces were shown during the incident  were also smiling and cheering. Am I the only one who thought that what happened was completely and absolutely unacceptable?

Brody followed up the smooch with a cool as a cucumber line, looking in Berry’s direction and saying, “I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the gift bag”, generating more cheers and laughter from the crowd.

The next day, I watched the entertainment shows and news coverage to see if anyone else had identified the kiss as an assault on Berry. But to my surprise, none of the newspapers or TV channels reported the incident as sexual misbehavior or even as something inappropriate, instead opting to talk about it like a fun, cool, playful incident with words like “romantic”, “roguish” and “charming” used to describe it.

Here are a few gems from an article in USA Today about Brody’s Oscar win that starts thus: “With an impromptu smooch, a sex symbol was born.” The female author then fawns that “he had such suave finesse” as he performed a "swooningly smooth scoop-and-dip” and "the gut reaction from all women was: 'That was so hot!'" and "now every woman in Hollywood is fantasizing about Adrien being her man."

What the hell?!! Why are people glorifying such acts of sexual assault? Where is the public anger and outrage?

Halle Berry's face as she talks about the kiss in the interview I mention below.

Despite appearing to take the unwanted kiss in stride, Halle Berry’s thoughts at the moment were not too far from my own, as she stated in an interview in 2017. “What the f**k is happening?” is what Berry says her reaction to the unexpected kiss was, as the event unfolded. She then mentions that since she understood what an out of body experience it is to win an Oscar, she decided to “f**king go with it”.

Even many years later, this kiss is included repeatedly in lists like the “best” or “most memorable” Oscar moments of all time. Scouring the internet for reactions, I found mostly “atta boy” responses from men and surprisingly, more sighing and swooning about Brody’s bold, sexy, bad boy moves than strong condemnation of his abusive behavior from women as well. On the Oscars official Youtube channel, Academy member, Lisa Churgin mentions this kiss as her "favorite Oscar moment" and she goes on to say that "moments like that are just the best."

Are you kidding me???!! 

Brody’s behavior was the classic objectification of a beautiful woman, as something that a man can use or abuse however he wants and the expectation that she should be thrilled that he chose to shower his attention on her. Grabbing a married woman, or single one for that matter, and without asking for her consent, kissing her, whether in public or private, is sexual assault. Did we really need the “#MeToo” movement to tell us that?  Why is the world acting blind to or worse glorifying such behavior and condemning it only when public outcries like the MeToo movement force them to?