The Academy Awards of 2022 gained quite a lot of attention for Will Smith’s thundering slap on the comedian Chris Rocks. One of the major entertainment headlines of 2022 was caused because of Rock’s joke about Will Smith’s beloved wife Jada Smith. The comedian’s efforts to joke about Jade Smith’s hair loss condition caused due to Alopecia did not sit well with the Men In Black star. The follow-up reply to his joke was a slap, whose sound could be heard across the globe. The Men in Black star faced major criticism for his actions, and the nightmares from that dark night are still haunting Smith’s present-day career.
Will Smith is still facing the repercussions of the slap
Apart from the major criticism the King Richard star was also banned from The Academy Awards for the next 10 years. All the projects concerning Will Smith were put on hold. The damage struck to Will Smith’s image is something that seems to stick with Smith for the rest of his life. Despite the apologies made by Will Smith for that night, on several occasions, no one seems to let the actor pass with his mistake.
Emancipation, Smith’s post-Oscar controversy film, seems to be hit hardest by the Bad Boys star’s slap. Emancipation, despite having a great story and screenplay, received the lowest rotten tomatoes ratings after Gemini Man i.e.60%. Smith shared his grief about the movie’s failure and pleaded to the audience to not let his actions affect the outreach of a good story.
“The only discomfort my heart has around that is that so many people have done spectacular work on this film. My hope is that my team isn’t penalized at all for my actions. I think Antoine and Robert and Ben and Charmaine — everyone has done such spectacular work. I definitely lose a couple winks of sleep every night thinking that I could have potentially penalized my team, but I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that everyone gets seen in the light that they deserve.”
Will Smith’s fanbase is getting smaller
Ever since the controversy, Will Smith has been constantly losing his fans evidenced by a significant reduction in his Instagram followers. Reportedly, the actor is on the pace of losing 8,000 followers per day. The Bad Boys actor lost 193,128 in May, and 256,110 in June 2022.
Contrary to the Emancipation actor’s condition, the victim in all this, Chris Rocks is gaining public sympathy and attention. A trend opposite to Smith can be observed on Rock’s Instagram with a constant increase in followers. Rock gained 1,155,773 followers at the end of March after the incident, before going on to garner 261,230 in April, 63,463 in May, and 62,606 in June, as per reports. The tour tickets of comedians are also on a steep rise with an increasing fan base and support.
Also Read: Why Fans Are Now Asking For Will Smith To Make A Full-Blown Hollywood Comeback
Though the Oscar-winning actor has projects in the pre-production phase, Nothing can be confirmed about the actor’s future projects. Many believe that the industry is not yet ready to forgive Will Smith and is maintaining a safe distance from him. The King Richard actor may be desperately trying for a major comeback to win back the heart of the audience but the current scenario surely does not seem in favor of the Men in Black star.
Source: TheThings.com
