Will Smith has revealed his hopes that the infamous Oscars slap won’t affect his success in the upcoming awards season.
Chris Rock had been presenting the award for Best Documentary at the Oscars back in March when he made a joke about the actor’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith – who suffers from alopecia.
Referring to Jada’s buzzcut, the comedian said, “Jada, can’t wait for GI Jane 2,” prompting the actress to roll her eyes.
After Chris made the joke, Will stormed onto the stage, slapped Chris across the face and warned him: “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!”
The situation caused uproar at the time, and he was subsequently banned from attending the Oscars and all Academy events for 10 years after the incident.
Will has since revealed that his “deepest hope” is that the infamous incident doesn’t have an effect on his new film Emancipation in the upcoming awards season.
When asked recently what he would say to those who thought it was “too soon” for him to be making a comeback, the Hollywood actor told Fox 5: “You know, I completely understand that if you know someone is not ready.”
“I would absolutely respect that and allow them their space to not be ready. My deepest concern is my team.”
“The people on this team have done some of the best work their entire careers, and my deepest hope is that my actions don’t penalise my team.”
Will continued that he hoped “the material power of the film” as well as “the timeliness of the story” would “open people’s hearts”.
The upcoming film Emancipation is based on the true story of the enslaved man “whipped Peter” who escaped from a Louisiana plantation in the 1860s after he was nearly whipped to death.
