Post-slap, is Will Smith too toxic to be taken seriously?

Will Smith now finds himself in a similar position. The one-time Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been a Hollywood pariah since he assaulted Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars earlier this year. His expulsion from the Academy for the next decade has meant he will not be allowed to attend the Oscars next year, or for many more years to come. Which is why his presence in Apple’s big Oscar-bait drama Emancipation, due to be released theatrically in December and then on the streaming service shortly afterwards, can only be described as problematic.

Under normal circumstances, Smith’s performance as a 19th-century slave who escapes from a Louisiana plantation and heads north to join the Union army, evading his captors and bounty hunters, would be a frontrunner for Best Actor. It ticks off most of the categories that Academy voters like: real-life character (just as his Oscar-winning performance as Richard Williams in King Richard was), period setting, lots of suffering, and (presumably) a redemptive ending. Smith has always done well playing real-life characters and is seemingly drawn to a masochistic side in them. So this seems tailor-made to draw awards attention. Yet its release also raises a simple question: is Will Smith, once the biggest star in Hollywood, now too toxic to be taken seriously? …

Few have been clamoring for Smith’s unhinged public outburst to be excused away, which means that Antoine Fuqua, director of Emancipation, has a public relations nightmare on his hands (assuming Smith is kept well away from the publicity campaign). In a new interview with Deadline, Fuqua was reduced to saying, “Will Smith is a great guy. I was with him for a couple of years, making this movie. He is a wonderful person, an amazing partner and he did an amazing job on this movie. Chris Rock’s a good guy, I know Chris as well…and I just pray it works out for them as friends, and we can move forward.” Few would share his optimism.