It’s been a year now Will Smithin full gala The Oscarsgot up from his chair to slap Chris Rockone of the ceremony presenters, and yell at him “Take my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth”.
The comedian joked about his wife, who is also an actress,’s alopecia Jada Pinkett Smithwhich did not please the famous actor – who also received the Oscar for best actor that evening for The Williams Method—. The moment went viral, the pictures went viral and nothing else was mentioned for days.
Nearly twelve months later, the incident continues to have consequences. A few weeks ago, in an interview on the program The daily show promote the movie EmancipationWill acknowledged that “it was an awful night” and said he was concerned about the possibility that the spectators punished him by not going to see her.
“I was going through something that night. That doesn’t excuse my behavior at all. It was a lot of things. He’s the little boy who saw his father hit his mother, you know? It all happened at that time. That’s not who I want to be,” he told host Trevor Noah.
Apologies, resignations and admission
Only 24 hours after the media incident, Will Smith has decided to apologize via his social networks. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of place and I was wrong. I am ashamed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no room for violence in a world of love and kindness,” he wrote on his profile from Instagram.
His words were not addressed only to the other protagonist of the evening: “I would also like to apologize to the Academy, to the producers of the show, to all the participants and to all those who view in the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams and to my King Richard family. I am deeply sorry that my behavior has tarnished what has been a wonderful journey for all of us.”
The public forgiveness of the protagonist of The prince of Bel-Air did not prevent the Academy from deciding to open a disciplinary procedure “for violation of the codes of conduct of the Academy”. And before knowing the sanction that would be imposed on Smith, the interpreter decided to resign from his position within this entity.
Finally, the Board of Governors of the Academy ruled the ten-year-old star’s veto at upcoming awards galasbut he did not withdraw the Oscar which had been awarded to him the same evening.
From that moment, Will Smith entered into a serious personal and professional crisis. While he himself claimed to have emotionally started a process to change his behavior and manage his stress, some media pointed out that he entered a rehab clinic voluntarily and others that he had made a long trip to India to regain his balance and resume his life.
The violent incident, in addition to jeopardizing the reputation and good name of the protagonist of men in blacksets off a crucial crisis in their couple with actress Jada Pinkett Smith, the subject of Chris Rock’s prank, which led to Smith’s outburst.
At that time, some media accused the actor’s aggressive behavior with the comedian of the accumulated resentment of the possible sentimental relationship that the wife of Will Smith and Chris Rock they would have had in the past, when they shared movie sets.
The third lead, Jada Pinkett Smit, also chose to lay low because for her it was also “time to heal” and she was “ready for it”. He enjoyed his hit podcast TableTalk red to talk about what had happened and how had he managed to naturalize alopecia who has suffered for years from a disorder that Rock joked about.
And, although everyone predicted that it would be the end of the marriage —the protagonist of another controversy after he confessed that they had an open relationship—, Jada and Will have recovered and continue their relationship. Of course, they have hardly been seen together since and they have not returned to pose as a couple on their social networks.
A troubled race
During these months, Will Smith also had to deal with the consequences that the slap had on his acting career. Up to three films in which he was going to star have been canceled or stopped.
The sequel to the Netflix production Bright It was a contentious project from the start and was permanently halted in the pre-production phase following the incident. The same thing happened with The board, which was eventually cancelled. And of i am legend 2Following whodunnit apocalyptic, we don’t know anything since the night of March 28 and we don’t know if it will finally be shot.
The premiere of Emancipation last October was interpreted by many as the revival of the actor’s careersomething that perhaps confirmed the Beacon Award that the Association of African American Film Critics bestowed on Smith’s work in this film.
Time will be the one that will eventually confirm if the prince recovers if he got his throne back (or not).