A COORDINATOR of an alopecia group in County Durham has slammed the “tasteless” and “crass” joke from Chris Rock during the Oscars ceremony – highlighting that people with the condition are tired of people normalising this kind of behaviour.
Comedian Rock hit headlines on Sunday (March 27) evening when he referred to Will Smith’s wife, Jada, who has alopecia, as “GI Jane 2” – before Mr Smith entered the stage, struck the presenter, returned to his seat, and shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth.”
In the aftermath of the controversy, both men have been condemned by celebrities and social media users, as well as hitting headlines across the globe.
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Despite many questioning the violent outburst shown by film star Smith, Catriona Grime, from Alopecia Support County Durham, has questioned the role of Chris Rock within the argument – describing the ‘joke’ from the comedian as “unnecessary”.
Since the scenes at the Oscars were broadcast across the world, Mrs Grime, who lost all of hair in 2013, has said that “more needs to be done” at raising awareness for alopecia.
She said: “I’m not condoning the actions of Will Smith in any way – but I do understand his reasoning. I’m tired of the tasteless jokes and people with alopecia becoming the butt of loads of jokes.
“For people with alopecia, it might be words to many, but it’s people’s identity we’re talking about. Their hair is their identity and when alopecia takes hold – it’s the emotional and psychological toll.
“By Chris Rock making this joke, it normalises these jokes. Children see these moments and think it’s okay. We don’t choose to be like this and it’s hard enough.”
While Mrs Grime hasn’t been targeted by cruel jokes before, but she’s seen people that have been the victim of alopecia ‘jokes’ before and the impact that has.
That’s why she decided to set up the Alopecia Support County Durham in 2016 to help people connect that do suffer with the condition and spread awareness to people across the region.
For the last six years, this support group has become a ‘safe haven’ for a small group of people that suffer with the often confused and lesser known, alopecia.
Throughout the pandemic, the group met up online and have now gone back to face-to-face gatherings, with the next meeting scheduled for April 26th at 7pm at Woodham Village Community Centre.
Mrs Grime added: “We need to be accepting of other people’s conditions. If this was a joke about colour, there would have been uproar.
“I also feel the alopecia joke was overshadowed because of Will Smith’s actions. If he would have done nothing, perhaps alopecia would have got global exposure right now.”
What is Alopecia?
Alopecia is a long-term chronic inflammatory condition which affects hair follicles and leads to hair loss.
Unlike male or female pattern hair loss, which tends to develop in a typical pattern, alopecia areata causes patches of hair loss while alopecia totalis causes complete hair loss on the scalp.
What are the causes?
The specific cause is unknown but there are known factors, with the main one being genetics; about one in five people with alopecia areata have a family history.
That doesn’t mean that anyone who’s stressed can get alopecia areata, but those who are predisposed to it (have a higher) chance of getting it when they’re stressed.
Autoimmune is the other aspect of it – where your own immune system thinks your hair follicles are foreign and then tries to attack them, you get hair loss as a result.
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