72andSunny Founder Weighs In on Will Smith Slap, Then Apologizes

By Kyle O'Brien 

The founder of 72andSunny, Glenn Cole, most likely didn’t post about the Will Smith slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars to be controversial, but the responses to his LinkedIn post certainly didn’t all go his way.

Cole attempted to find a cultural path forward from the incident through marketing and “normalizing love.” He wrote about marketers trying to create indelible moments and stated that the confrontation at the Oscars was one that we are stuck with. He then stated that the incident was an opportunity for the industry to “focus on the meaningful conversations and consequences.”

Responders had other things to say, however, from stating that they didn’t need to hear his take, to telling him to take more time to reflect on the way this industry has perpetuated violence in ways more harmful than a slap. Others called out Cole’s privilege and complained he had not addressed Jada Pinkett Smith’s situation as the woman at the other end of the joke.

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After receiving nearly 400 comments, with many politely firm rebukes, Cole updated his post, stating he had “learned a lot in 36 hours.” He took the advice that he should have paused, listened and expanded his field of vision on the topic from his “narrow lens.” He apologized to those he had hurt and committed to personal growth and progress. He also left up the original post to “respect the conversation and learn from it.”

Read the entirety of Cole’s post below.

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