Just two years ago, things weren’t looking so hot for Will Smith. He had uncharacteristically slapped Chris Rock during the live broadcast of the Oscars. “The slap heard around the world” was talked about for months with people analyzing why he did it and how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bungled the security issue at the moment. The 55-year-old actor has laid relatively low since that major crisis, until now.
With the success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die at the box office so far generating over $289 million worldwide, Smith is starting to test the waters elsewhere. He’s hitting the stage at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday, June 30 to perform his new song live at the show. “From his start as a rapper to The Fresh Prince to being a box office king as one of the Bad Boys, Will Smith is truly a global icon, and we are honored to welcome him back to grace the BET Awards stage,” Connie Orlando, BET’s EVP of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy, wrote in a press release to Entertainment Tonight. “We look forward to Will adding to yet another defining night for the culture that is not to be missed.”
Fans know that Smith made his first subtle move in April with a cameo appearance with J Balvin during his Coachella set. The Men in Black nostalgia was alive and well in the moment and it set the tone for his comeback tour with Bad Boys. “It was smart to make a movie that’s part of a franchise, that people are familiar with, and his audience, his core fans, would like,” University of Southern California professor and PR expert Fred Cook told The New York Times. So far, a majority of his audience has forgiven him and moved on, but that doesn’t mean everyone in Hollywood is giving him a pass.
Smith resigned his membership from the Academy, and the organization banned him from attending any Oscars ceremony for a decade. While that may seem like a weak punishment, it is Rock who has reportedly given him the harshest punishment of them all: the silent treatment. “I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is he’s not ready to talk, and when he is, he will reach out,” Smith shared in his July 2022 social media apology. Instead, Rock made his only statement through a Netflix special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage in March 2023.
The Oscar winner may never return to his former adulation or glory in Hollywood, but the entertainment industry is ready to move beyond the shocking onstage moment. His comeback is here, his fans are buying tickets, and Hollywood has left the door open for him to walk through, even if some are hesitant about his return.
Before you go, click here to see more of the most shocking Oscars moments.
