It was the "slap" heard 'round the world. And Will Smith's red-hot career will never be the same.
Yes, the Oscar winner has found semi-steady work since he attacked Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Academy Awards telecast. Still, his image as the lovable superstar took a direct hit following that assault.
Now, the actor's co-star in the movie that got him that Oscar invite is defending the falling star.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who played Smith's wife in that year's "King Richard" biopic, told a Daily Beast podcast that Smith did nothing wrong that night.
I think that, you know, this idea that First Amendment rights should protect everybody? I don’t think it should necessarily protect a**holes. I don’t. I don’t. I really don’t, especially if you’re causing harm.
She also suggests the Confederate flag should be banned, too.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That once-common refrain died during the woke years. And, in a way, it never came back. Ellis-Taylor is proof of that. And she's not alone.
Comedian Margaret Cho recently said that her fellow comedians shouldn't tell jokes about the trans community. Why? It'll kill them dead.
How? Huh? Don't ask questions that Cho isn't prepared to answer. Just know she, too, is trying to limit what her fellow artists can and can't say.
I think trans lives has become a very big thing in comedy, because they want to contest it. They don’t understand that when you take trans lives lightly in a comedy routine, trans people die, and they don’t have that understanding. There are real consequences to your actions, because they don’t affect you personally, but this will affect a trans person’s life.
She also said there's a trans genocide happening before our eyes without sharing any proof to support that claim.
Woke may be fading, but it's still strong enough to cancel artists and stifle speech.
Consider British singer M.I.A. She went off on a brief, right-leaning rant during a Kid Cudi concert. He swiftly fired her, forcing the singer to sue in response.
Pretty woke, no?
Or what about the Broadway actor who's inconvenient views about the trans community went public earlier this month. He was fired from his job with the "Hadestown" musical as a result. Geno Segers apologized, but in the woke era that rarely, if ever, helps.
All of this is The New Normal.
The Hollywood community, by and large, ignored rampant attacks on free speech during Peak Woke. Now, they're speaking out on occasion, but only when a left-leaning artist could be in the crosshairs.
That's why Hollywood rallied behind Jimmy Kimmel after ABC suspended him for a week after he pinned Charlie Kirk's death on a MAGA devotee, a complete fabrication.
Yet they didn't have Segers' back nor M.I.A.'s in recent months.
Ellis-Taylor and Cho deserve some tough but gentle blowback for their comments in the artistic community. We can agree to disagree, but limiting speech is never the answer.
Think any star, minor or major, will share that message, and there's a Nigerian prince looking for your email address.
