For something that could have been a throwaway joke, the actions of Will Smith at last weekend’s Oscars ceremony have brought the incident much more attention and press than it would ever have been given had it been allowed to pass in the same way as the other jokes aimed at the celebrities in attendance on the night. Although Rock declined the chance to raise criminal charges against Smith, The Academy was forced into launching an investigation to decide what action they would take, but it seems that Smith has decided to take matters into his own hands and yesterday resigned his membership to The Academy. However, it seems that there could be other ramifications for the actor, with new information from THR suggesting that production of new movie Bad Boys 4 was put on hold following the incident.
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While there were many moments to be celebrated at this year’s Oscars, the one that dominated the event was the response of Will Smith following a joke made by Chris Rock about Jada Pinkett-Smith. The fracas, which quickly became labelled as “the slap heard around the world” took the headlines the next day and the moment has continued to dominate entertainment headlines with a slew of apologies, reactions and possible consequences for Smith following his “moment of madness.”
Most recently, it seems that his violent outburst in front of a huge live global audience caused the production of his new movie Bad Boys 4 to be paused by Sony. Smith returned to the Bad Boys franchise just prior to the start of the Covid pandemic with Bad Boys for Life. The film was positively received and became one of the highest grossing movies of the year thanks to subsequent events. That led to Sony immediately green-lighting a sequel, and development has been ongoing over the last couple of years. With the last update on the movie suggesting that Smith had already been given a large chunk of the script, the movie is deep in pre-production. Whether the wheels will be set in motion again now that Smith has taken a greater responsibility for his actions is something that we will have to wait and see.
Will Smith’s Reaction to Chris Rock’s Joke Escalated A Moment That Would Never Have Been Mentioned Again
The roasting of celebrities at big events is something that is part of the territory in Hollywood, and the jibe made by Rock this year towards Jada Pinkett Smith, which the comedian later said was not making fun of her alopecia that he claimed to not know about, was relatively low-key compared to some others that have been made. Videos released of Will Smith initially laughing at the joke have also added to the belief that if the show had continued uninterrupted, there would have been no mention made of it again.
In slapping Rock, Smith effectively ensured that the moment was repeated over and over again, on news shows, in the media, and in dozens of memes and internet send-ups of the moment. Everything should start to calm down now that Smith has faced some kind of consequence in terms of media coverage, but unfortunately for him, the internet remembers and some of the content created around the incident will continue to pop up every now and again for a long time to come.
