Unless you're hiding under a rock, you're probably wondering what the heck's been up to thanks to the aggressive PR campaign surrounding his latest film. Bad Boys: Ride or DieWill Smith is making a comeback.
Promoting his first starring role since “The Slap” two years ago, Smith showed up to a movie theater and punched Chris Rock in front of a worldwide audience after Rock made a crude joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's hair. Bad Boys Co-star Martin Lawrence also appears in the film, and social media is flooded with content.
Essentially, what he's doing is what most A-list Hollywood actors do when they star in a blockbuster movie: pitch it, and pitch it hard.
Apparently, the efforts are paying off. Bad Boys The series has topped the box office in the US and UK and has been described as a much-needed “revitalisation” for Sony Pictures after a slow start to the summer for the film industry.
As far as comebacks from Hollywood scandals go, this is Smith's dream scenario: after briefly becoming a laughing stock and provoking strangely visceral outbursts of rage and horror from a host of notable figures (What if he'd slapped recently deceased national treasure Betty White? What if, director Judd Apatow asked at the time, he'd killed Chris Rock?), Smith seems on his way to re-establishing himself as the cash-in, supposedly likable frontman for mediocre movies.
But it seems some people aren't giving up completely yet: In the many posts and videos I've seen promoting the movie and Will Smith, comments from regular people suggest that many people feel something is wrong.
They're not buying the reboot. They're not ready to let Smith back in. They see any of Smith's actions as an attempt to “forget” what happened onstage two years ago (obviously), or to cover up his status as a “cuckold” who humiliated himself for a woman who tried to ruin their marriage by going public about the struggles they faced as a couple.
To be honest, I'm not particularly surprised by the backlash from typically right-wing, constantly online men whose biggest complaint about Will Smith is that they don't like his wife, or that he embodies an idea they perceive as a threat to their concept of masculinity. These strange criticisms were around long before “The Slap” and will likely continue to be around long after it.
I also don't particularly begrudge those who feel his assault on his coworker went too far. I wasn't outraged by it, but I acknowledge that it was excessive and that it shouldn't have happened.
But I think it's time to get over it, at least in terms of accepting that it's a bit ridiculous to expect him to completely stop working because of what happened, or that there's some bigger conspiracy behind his desire to keep working other than just clinging to wealth and success.
Other celebrities have done far worse things, or been accused of far worse crimes (for far more inexcusable reasons), and still gone on to achieve incredible success, like Mark Wahlberg, who has a history of assault, having committed multiple hate crimes in his youth (and who in 2014 attempted to seek pardon for one of two violent incidents he committed against a Vietnamese man in the late '80s).
Figures like Mike Tyson, who still enjoys a relatively successful career despite being convicted of rape in 1992, have largely rehabilitated himself in the public eye as a lovable but troubled figure.
Then there are minor stars like Cheryl Tweedy, whose career and reputation seem entirely unaffected by an incident in 2003 when she allegedly assaulted a black female restroom attendant (and was charged with racist assault, for which she was acquitted).
There are stars like Brad Pitt, who was accused in court documents of physically abusing Angelina Jolie and her children (charges he denies), and yet has continued to enjoy his career untroubled by these accusations. I could go on and on.
So why is Smith being treated differently? Perhaps the very public nature of the slap makes Smith's return difficult for some to accept.
Of course, racism and respectability politics influenced many knee-jerk reactions, with pundits and public figures scrambling to see who was most outraged.
Because to these people, the problem wasn't the slap itself, but the fact that a black man did it in front of all these white people. Apparently, white people should be forgiven for failing to understand that this incident is not indicative of the behavior of all black men.
Still, there's no denying the impact of such a spectacle taking place at a prestigious, usually mundane, awards show. It's always going to take some time to digest. And it's only natural that Chris Rock, who has every right to remain infuriated by it, may never get over it.
But let's not be disingenuous: if you think this case alone is enough reason for celebrities to kiss their careers goodbye, prepare to boycott the many stars who have gotten away with it over the years — you'd be surprised how long the list is.
