The 2022 Oscars was an event that will go down in history for all the wrong reasons. That night was supposed to be the crowning achievement for Will Smith, an actor who went from a G-rated rapper to TV sitcom star to Hollywood A-list actor over the last 30 years.
During the ceremonies, host Chris Rock told a relatively tame joke concerning Will Smith’s wife, Jada-Pinkett Smith’s hair, which she’d shaved due to having a health condition called alopecia. The joke, which first prompted laughter from the soon-to-be oscar winner, was answered by physical violence after Will Smith got out of his seat, walked on stage, and viciously slapped the much smaller man before returning to his heart with a pleased look on his face.
Upon being questioned by Rock as to why he struck him, Smith yelled out, “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!” two times to the shock of the audience, many of whom thought before the outburst it was all scripted skit.
Following the assault, Smith was reportedly asked to leave, to which he said “no thank you” in so many words and remained seated. As for Rock, he chose not to press charges, which may say saved the show from featuring a potentially violent arrest of the future Academy Award-winning actor.
Smith would later resign from the Academy, and the organization would issue a ten-year ban, meaning Smith could not physically attend another Oscars for a decade.
However, many speculated that the infamous slap might not impact Smith’s career since he’d just signed a new deal with Netflix and still has other projects in the works, such as a film deal with Netflix for a movie titled “Fast and Loose.”
But, there is a discussion that this project may quietly go away after director David Leich dropped from working on the project because of a “scheduling conflict.” And insiders say that Netflix isn’t looking very hard for a new director to work with the 53-year-old disgraced actor.
“Netflix put out an urgent call for another director to take over a project featuring the star who was heavily favored to win the best actor at the Oscars. But soon after Smith’s attack on Chris Rock on the Oscars stage, Netflix quietly moved the project to the back burner,” The Hollywood Reporter stated.
A new movie called “Bad Boys 4: was is reportedly still under development, “but will now pause. A few other projects in pre-production are likely to do the same,” according to a source from The Hollywood Reporter.
In the meantime, Smith issued a public apology to Rock and his family, in an attempt many feel Smith and his team orchestrated to save the actor’s career.
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,” Smith had written in a public apology to Rock. “I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
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Sources:
- “Netflix Quietly Backs Away from Will Smith’s Upcoming Movie Following Oscars Drama” Todby.