{"id":142745,"date":"2022-11-29T09:23:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T09:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/will-smith-unpacks-oscars-slap-in-daily-show-interview\/"},"modified":"2022-11-29T09:23:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T09:23:10","slug":"will-smith-unpacks-oscars-slap-in-daily-show-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/will-smith-unpacks-oscars-slap-in-daily-show-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Smith Unpacks Oscars Slap in ‘Daily Show’ Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\tAfter a series of online statements and quiet public appearances over recent months, Will Smith took further steps back into the spotlight Monday evening, appearing for an interview on \u201cThe Daily Show With Trevor Noah.\u201d Promoting his new historical drama \u201cEmancipation,\u201d Smith’s conversation with the late-night host naturally dug into his Oscars night controversy, in which he slapped Chris Rock onstage as the comedian was introducing the category of best documentary feature.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cI have been away,\u201d Will Smith said, drawing a laugh from the crowd when the topic of his absence from the public eye came up. \u201cWhat have y’all been doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cThat was a horrific night, as you can imagine. There’s many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just \u2014 I lost it, you know?\u201d Smith continued. \u201cI was going through something that night, you know? Not that that justifies my behavior at all\u2026 It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That is not who I want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tNoah interjected, offering his own perspective on the situation and recalling the discussions about the controversy that he had with peers.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cI love Chris. I’m friends with him. I love you, but this is fucked up\u2026 I know that as Black people, Black people get together and go, ‘What was Will doing? What the hell happened?’ A lot of Black people were like, ‘He should go to jail.’ Like, you need to relax yourself,\u201d Noah said, earning a laugh from Smith. \u201cSome people were overreacting, which made some people underreact.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tSmith shared an anecdote from the aftermath on Oscars evening, when he was already having to deal with the reverberations of his outburst in his private life.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cI was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time,\u201d Smith said, \u201cMy nephew is nine. He is the sweetest little boy. We came home. He had stayed up late to see his uncle Will and we are sitting in my kitchen and he is on my lap and he is holding the Oscar and he is just like, ‘Why did you hit that man, Uncle Will?’ Damn it. Why are you trying to Oprah me?\u201d <\/p>\n

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\tSmith also discussed \u201cEmancipation,\u201d sharing the decision-making that led him to the project. Based on true events, the movie stars Smith as a runaway slave who becomes known to the world as \u201cWhipped Peter\u201d after widely distributed photographs of keloid scarring on his back expose the extreme brutality of slavery.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cFirst seeing that image was one of the things that really got me excited to explore this, because you see the image, but you don’t know who he is. You don’t know what the story is,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAmerican slavery was one of the most brutal aspects of human history\u2026 It is hard to understand the level of human cruelty. My daughter asked me, ‘Daddy, do we really need another slave movie?’ I said, ‘Daby, I promise you, I wouldn’t make a slave movie. This is a freedom movie.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tIn a recent interview with Vanity Fair, director Antoine Fuqua addressed the decision to release \u201cEmancipation\u201d eight months after Smith’s Oscars controversy, saying \u201cthe film to me is bigger than that moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\t\u201c400 years of slavery is bigger than one moment,\u201d Fuqua stated. \u201cMy hope is that people will see it that way and watch the movie and be swept away with the great performance by Will and all the real hard work that the whole crew did.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cEmancipation\u201d will debut in select theaters this Friday before premiering on Apple TV+ on Dec. 9.<\/p>\n

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\tWatch Noah’s full interview with Smith below.<\/p>\n

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