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It looks like Will Smith is officially out of the doghouse as far as fans are concerned. Years after alienating millions of his supporters for slapping Chris Rock, Smith is once again feeling the love and adoration whenever he takes the stage these days.
His latest surprise appearance came courtesy of J Balvin during his set at Coachella Sunday night (April 14) and much to the delight of the crowd, Will Smith burst on the scene in his Men In Black attire and performed the title track from the smash 1997 film. Why that song was chosen is anyone’s guess. Smith does have a few other songs that people would’ve grooved to like “Welcome To Miami,” Summertime” or even “Gettin’ Jiggy With It,” but nah, they decided “Men In Black” was the one.
According to Variety, the song turned out to be the right choice as not only did the crowd approve, but also appreciated the entire theme that overtook the stage for the surprise cameo.
Per Variety:
The appearance was brief but memorable, capping a UFO-themed set and concluding with Balvin being dragged off by black-suit-clad dancers as Smith pulled out a “Neuralyzer,” the famous memory-eraser device from the film.
Balvin returned for another song, however, and rocked energetically through a rousing version of his hit “In Da Ghetto” with his troupe of dancers, who were clad in comically stereotypical alien costumes, green with big black eyes.
Balvin’s concerts are always heavily thematic, and the interstellar theme was present throughout. It opened with a mock-1950s newsreel about an alien invasion (in English, with Spanish subtitles), eventually revealing that the alien was… Balvin, who then arose on a platform from beneath the stage, underneath a giant mock-UFO that looked like a cross between the evil spaceship in the film “Nope,” a pointer from a Ouija board and a cushioned toilet seat.
Who knew J Balvin was such a big Men In Black fan? We sure didn’t. Either way it was cool to see Will Smith back in his bag and getting love from the crowd. Whether or not that love once again extends to Chris Rock is anyone’s guess, but we wouldn’t bet on it.
Check out Will Smith’s performance at Coachella, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Source: Variety / Getty / Will Smith / Jada Pinkett
A new report reveals that the Oscars slapping incident was extremely detrimental to Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s philanthropic endeavors and sheds light on how donation money was handled.
Variety exclusively reports that the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation will shut down after donations began drying up following Will Smith slapping the taste out of Chris Rock’s mouth for not KEEPING HIS wife’s NAME OUT OF HIS MOUTH.
Per Variety:
According to tax records from the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation reviewed by Variety (via ProPublica), the foundation’s revenue dropped from $1,760,000 in 2020 and $2,138,660 in 2021 to $365,870 in 2022. The year-over-year drop of 83% included the departure of contributors such as American Airlines, which donated $76,160 in 2021, and CAA, which contributed $100,000 in 2021.
The website also reports the charitable organization that focuses on matters the couple cares deeply about, like health and wellness, arts education, and sustainability, gave large sums of money to two organizations, Rebecoming and World Rebirth Foundation. that didn’t do a damn thing with the money they received.
The Will and Jada Smith Foundation gave $15,000 to Rebecoming in 2022, an organization “dedicated to understanding and unlocking the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness through clinical research into the mechanism-of-action behind trauma release.”
When Variety did more digging on Rebecoming, they learned the organization’s website had not been updated since 2020 and continued to file tax paperwork through 2022.
World Rebirth Foundation Inc. received $10,000 from the Smiths in 2022. Variety reports the organization’s website is not live, and the last update on the Facebook page happened in 2023 while adding the organization’s mission statement is full of typos.
Bruh.
The Foundation’s Troubling Spending
Variety also touches on the Will and Jada Smith Foundation’s 2022 expenditures, which included office equipment and computers plus an eyebrow-raising $3,304 in “bank overdrawn” fees.
As of 2023, there are no more paid employees at the foundation, which began cutting back on staff in 2021, signaling the Smiths to move away from the organization.
Despite the Smith’s philanthropic failures, Will Smith is still one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors, making $25 million per project, which includes Bad Boys: Ride or Die and his upcoming Netflix project Fast and Loose.
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Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment / Bad Boys: Ride or Die
It’s been a few years since Will Smith alienated a chunk of his fanbase when he slapped fire out of Chris Rock during the Oscar Awards in 2022. But are those the same fans willing to let bygones be bygones and support him at the box office?
We shall find out as Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will once again reconnect to bring a brand new installment to the hugely popular Bad Boys franchise which dropped it’s first trailer for the film just this Tuesday (March 26). In the new upcoming Bad Boys: Ride or Die, we find Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) on the run from the law as they’re being framed by some powerful people who made sure their Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) died a “dirty” cop.
With authorities on their tail and a powerful cartel in their way, Lowrey and Burnett go on a mission to not only clear their names but also that of their dearly departed captain. Looking like they’re in the latest sequel to the Fast & Furious saga, the two men find themselves duking it out with bad guys everywhere from a military transport helicopter to the streets of Miami. And of course we get a shot of Will Smith running through highway traffic in a tank top with a gun in his hand. That must be in his contract for these movies.
Check out the trailer for Bad Boys: Ride or Die and let us know if you’ll be checking for this when it hits theaters on June 7th in the comments section below.
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Source: Lightspeed Studios / Undawn / Will Smith
Even Will Smith wasn’t enough to prevent this video game from flopping like his film Wild Wild West.
Undawn, the zombie survival game featuring Will Smith, bombed epically, according to a report from Reuters. The website reported that the game was a “key” in-house project at Tencent and “flopped spectacularly” even with Smith’s involvement and the game’s closet to 1 billion yuan (around $140 million).
We first reported on the game’s existence in May 2023. Before its June launch, 2.3 million people pre-registered to play it. That didn’t matter, as the game didn’t meet expectations.
In the game, which eerily resembles Smith’s film I Am Legend, the actor plays Trey Jones and serves as your guide in the game.
It was billed as a free-to-play mobile and PC game, as well as these other features:
Base construction and survival mechanics
An expansive open-world
Vehicular combat
Customization elements
PvPvE platform
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Per Reuters, through research firm Appmagic reporting, Undawn only brought in $287,000. The game’s poor performance resulted in Tencent shifting strategy in its mobile division, canceling a mobile game based on Square Enix’s Nier franchise and delaying the Assassin’s Creed: Jade mobile game.
News of the game’s flopping has taken many by surprise, with many people saying they didn’t even know it existed.
One person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote, “…there was a Will Smith-fronted zombie survival game called Undawn?”
“I’m not shocked as someone who’s only just hearing about The Will Smith-fronted zombie survival game Undawn,” another X user wrote.
Well, we knew. We just thought people didn’t care.
In the gallery below, you can see more reactions to Will Smith’s game, Undawn, flopping.
3. Apparently you and everyone else
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Will Smith and The Oscars will forever be linked after the slapping incident heard around the world involving the actor and Chris Rock. However, some on X are wondering out loud why Will Smith is banned for his actions but John Cena going nude on the Oscars stage got to fly without a hitch.
In a bit with Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel, John Cena presented the nominees for the Best Costume Design award. Cena’s state of undress was a callback to the 1974 Academy Awards ceremony where a naked streaker took to the stage.
Cena elected not to run across the stage but instead was naked save for covering the front of his privates with the nominee list. The award was given to Holly Waddington, who worked on the film, Poor Things.
While the moment was focused on being comedic at its root, it appears some on X are wondering how the academy heads let this fly and Smith was hit with a decade-long ban from the festivities.
There are also folks online calling the moment for Cena a “humiliation ritual” as a part of whatever phantom Hollywood cabal’s initiation practices. We’ll leave that one alone for all the reasons one can imagine.
As it stands, Will Smith is trending on X, formerly Twitter, and we’ve got reactions to John Cena’s moment below.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Albert L. Ortega / Getty / Will Smith / Martin Lawrence
Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett’s next hilarious, action-packed adventure has a release date.
Will Smith has graciously recovered following the infamous Oscars slap incident and has been furiously working on films. One of his most anticipated projects, Bad Boys 4, the following up to the highly successful film Bad Boys 4 Life, also starring Martin Lawrence, has officially wrapped and is coming sooner than many thought.
Taking to Instagram, Smith wrote, “WRAPPED! Nothin’ but Magic every time I’m with my guy. See y’all June 7 for @BADBOYS 4!!”
In follow-up posts, the rapper/actor shared more behind-the-scenes photos from the fourth film in the famed Bad Boys film franchise, showing Grammy-award-winning artist John Batiste visiting the set while they were filming.
In the caption for the post, using his comedic charm he wrote, “@jonbatiste came to see Me & @martinlawrence on our last day of shooting @badboys. I don’t remember what I was talkin’ about but there was a whole lotta Hand-Talkin’ goin’ on!”
In another post, Smith paid tribute to the city of Miami, which has been the locale for each of the three films and will continue to be in Bad Boys 4.
“It was only right we shoot @BadBoys 4 on the streets where it all began. Mil gracias, Miami!! Te amo ❤️ Happy 305 day,” Smith wrote.
What Will Bad Boys 4 Plot Be?
Hoping to recapture the box office magic of the last film, Adil El Arbi, and Bilall Fallah returned to sit in the director’s chair. We’re not sure about the next film’s plot, but we most certainly know that Mike Lowery’s love child will somehow be involved, and Marcus will be once again contemplating a well-deserved retirement.
We can’t wait to see the first trailer.
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Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
For decades there were rumors that the iconic Rakim Allah was the ghostwriter behind Will Smith’s classic cut “Summertime.” Although those rumors were eventually debunked, Will Smith has finally copped to a different allegation surrounding his timeless hit.
Earlier this week, Will Smith put on a show for the ages when he took the stage at the Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop event in which he performed some of his classic cuts including the aforementioned “Summertime.” But the real shocker came after the show when he admitted that Rakim was the inspiration behind his sound on the Grammy Award-winning song.
In a video posted online, we find Will Smith kicking it in a hotel room with his fellow Hip-Hop peers and other industry insiders talking about the show. One Rakim Allah was also in attendance when Will Smith finally told the God what we’ve all been wondering for decades, “I was absolutely trying to sound like you on “Summertime.”
With everyone including Rakim breaking out into laughter, Smith explained why he went that route on the song saying, “Cause I had been screaming all night, and I couldn’t get my ‘happy-go-lucky’ high voice, and Hula [the producer] just said, ‘Yo, just gimme that Rakim shit.’”
And a classic was born.
Rakim found the entire story entertaining as he couldn’t stop smiling (probably the first time we’ve ever seen the God smile in his life). Now we all know for certain that even though Rakim didn’t ghostwrite the song (he denied writing the song years ago), the rap legend was the inspiration behind Will Smith’s biggest song of his life.
Check out Will Smith talk about the song at the 2:40 minute mark below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
The Grammy Awards aired a special tribute to Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary with a star-studded lineup that included Will Smith and Queen Latifah.
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On Sunday night (December 10), the Recording Academy and CBS aired A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop, a two-hour special dedicated to honoring the music and the culture that started in the Bronx in the early 1970s. The special was broadcast on CBS and showcased many of the legendary artists that made the culture what it is in medley performances, with Will Smith making a special appearance to reunite with DJ Jazzy Jeff for a performance as the Fresh Prince.
The pair were introduced by Questlove of The Roots. “In a year and a night full of hip-hop moments, this is a big one,” says Questlove who delved into their history. “I grew up idolizing these two from my hometown of Illadelpho. They were the first artist to ever receive a Grammy award for hip-hop. Back then, they weren’t invited to perform or accept their award on camera, which led to the hip-hop community sitting things out that year. But thankfully, a year later, their hip-hop invitation did show up and they did become the first hip-hop group to ever perform at the Grammy Awards.” The duo then captivated the crowd with a medley of their hits including “Brand New Funk” from their 1988 debut album and the theme song from Smith’s classic TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Other guests holding court on the mic at the event at Inglewood’s YouTube theater included Queen Latifah leading a medley of women in Hip-Hop, Public Enemy, Rakim, Doug E. Fresh, MC Lyte, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Jermaine Dupri, YG, Too Short, E-40, De La Soul, Akon, Black Thought, Nelly, Gunna and Chance the Rapper. Celebrities such as Regina King, Seth Rogen, and Lin-Manuel Miranda participated in introducing some of the medley performances during the special.
LL Cool J, who was an executive producer of the special along with Questlove and Shawn Gee of Two One Five Entertainment, Jesse Collins Entertainment, Dionne Harmon, Claudine Joseph, Fatima Robinson, and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay expressed his gratitude for being part of making it happen. “We’re celebrating 50 years of hip-hop. The goal was always to elevate and really celebrate the culture,” he said.
A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop is currently available on demand at Paramount+.
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Source: Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty
Sixeteen years after its release and Will Smith’s I Am Legend has become a cult classic film. The actor formerly known as The Fresh Prince recently confirmed that he is indeed working on a sequel with fellow Hollywood star Michael B. Jordan.
If you’re familiar with the film—SPOILERS AHEAD—then you should be aware that in the theatrical release Smith’s character, Robert Neville, doesn’t survive after years of holding it down after an apocalypse. However, the DVD release of the film included an alternate ending, Neville does live and make it out of a New York City overrun by Darkseekers aka zombies on steroids.
Over the weekend, while he was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the Red Sea International Film Festival, Smith offered details into how far along the new film is in production and development.
“I Am Legend 2! I have a call with Michael B. Jordan tomorrow,” said Smith on Saturday (Dec. 2) during a panel called In Conversation With Will Smith. “We’re really close. The script just came in… I’m probably giving up too much information…the script just came in.”
Smith explained how they’ll be going forward with the “mythology” of the alternate ending of the film.
Jordan and Smith battling Darkseekers? We’re already sold.
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Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz
Will Smith became the new subject of a video tell-all by Tasha K, and Cardi B has come to his defense.
Celebrity blogger Tasha K made a post on X, formerly Twitter on Monday (November 13) highlighting an interview on her UnWine With Tasha K show with Brother Bilal, a former friend of Will Smith. “Will Smith will WISH this interview NEVER happened! This is one of the closest people to Will aside from Jada to sit down and tell all about him.” she wrote. In the interview, Bilal claimed that he walked in on Smith and actor Duane Martin engaged in sexual intercourse among other
salacious claims.
The uproar caught the attention of Will Smith, whose representative stated that the claims by Bilal were “completely fabricated” and “unequivocally false.” Cardi B went further and expressed her anger in an Instagram Live session on Wednesday (November 15). “I don’t like how I got fooled a couple of weeks ago..some people just never change,” she began in the video which was shared onto the X platform referring to Tasha K. Tasha K still owes Cardi B $3 million in legal damages.
“I don’t like what people be doing to Will Smith. I be feeling like Will Smith is very unproblematic and I feel like he has a nice heart, and that’s the thing,” she continued. “I found out that Will Smith is a Libra…Libras, we be getting tried, we be getting tried, and then when we outburst, we outburst so f—ing heavy, that we become the ones in the wrong. Cardi B also had words for those running with the claims, saying: “As a journalist, you should be able to determine whether someone is bulls——ing or not.”
Tasha K may be facing a new whirlwind of trouble after the Will Smith video. When asked by reporters about the situation after her appearance at the iHeart Radio stations in Manhattan, Jada Pinkett Smith shouted out “We suing” before exiting the scene. Tasha K has also been named in a lawsuit filed by R. Kelly at the beginning of the week, where the convicted singer claims that U.S. Bureau of Prisons officials leaked his personal information to the YouTuber to air on her show before his trial in Illinois on sexual assault charges.
