Will Smith’s slap in the face of Chris Rock at the Oscars is already having an impact on the ‘Williams Method’ actor’s career. Several of his projects are suspended, including “Bad Boys 4”.
Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Oscars
Previously named for Ali and In search of happiness, Will Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in The Williams Method. A victory so hoped for but that the actor could not savor. A few minutes earlier, when he came to present the Best Documentary statuette, Chris Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia.
A valve that displeased Will Smith, who got up and suddenly landed on the Dolby Theater stage to slap the comedian. During his acceptance speech, the actor reappeared in tears and expressed his regrets. But the controversy did not end there. The comedian later publicly apologized to Chris Rock on social media. Strongly criticized by the public and by many colleagues in the film industry such as Jim Carrey or Pedro Almodóvar, the star also resigned from the Academy of Oscars.
In a statement sent to Deadline the actor said:
I have directly responded to the Academy’s Disciplinary Procedure Notice, and will accept all consequences of my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards were shocking, painful, and inexcusable. The list of people I’ve hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my friends and relatives, everyone in the audience, and viewers. I betrayed the trust of the Academy. (…) So, I resign from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and I will accept any future consequences that its management deems appropriate.
A career in jeopardy?
In addition to the Academy of Oscars, vis-à-vis which he took the lead in presenting his resignation, several Hollywood studios are also questioning their collaboration with the actor. Netflix has just suspended Fast and Loose. In this action movie, a criminal finds himself, an amnesiac, following an attack. As he investigates his past, he realizes that he has led a double life, shared between a daily life as a kingpin and another as a CIA agent. The feature film recently lost its director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2), who prefers to devote himself to The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling. After looking for another director, the streaming giant finally prefers to abandon the project for the moment after the slap in the face of Will Smith.
A source also assured the HollywoodReporter that Sony has on its side paused the development of the fourth installment of bad boys, while the interpreter of Mike Lowrey had received forty pages of the script before the ceremony. If these two feature films should therefore not see the light of day anytime soon, Will Smith will soon star in Emancipation a film on slavery currently in post-production and directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Equalizer) for Apple TV+. The release date has not yet been announced. The incident at the Oscars, however, had direct consequences for the actor’s career.
