Will Smith might be limiting his public appearances as the media campaign for “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” rolls out.
The film, which is the fourth installment in the buddy cop franchise, is slated to hit theaters on June 7. It reunites Smith with Martin Lawrence for the first time since the third installment “Bad Boys for Life” came out in 2020.
However, a speculative report from the Daily Mail suggests that Smith has been curbing interview opportunities to avoid questions about his estranged wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, their unconventional relationship, and his controversial 2022 Oscars incident. According to the outlet, the actor has instead opted to lean into a more robust social media scheme to promote the film.
“Will doesn’t want to do any promo other than social media because he doesn’t want to get into the slap or his marriage again. He’s refusing to do any of the normal stuff he would do, like interviews. He’s not ashamed about what happened to his marriage, but he just doesn’t want to get into the dark stuff again,” claimed a purported insider.
The A-list talent infamously slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars after a poorly received joke about the “Red Table Talk” host’s shaved head. Though she had openly talked about dealing with hair loss caused by alopecia, sources said Rock was unaware what she has been describing as a medical issue.
That same night, Smith won his first Oscar for Best Actor for “King Richard,” where he portrayed Vens and Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams.
Last year, for the first and only time, he addressed the incident in detail with his friend Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show.” He claimed the slap was the result of a lot of small moments.
“That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time. But at the end of the day, I just, I lost it,” Smith shared. The comic also spoke about the encounter when he filmed his special “Selective Outrage.”
Trevor Noah asked Will Smith about the Oscars Slap… Its a long conversation, this is a small part. pic.twitter.com/n3rQLaLV91
— Lumumba (@e_lumumba) November 29, 2022
Yet, since the official trailer for “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” premiered on March 25, Smith has only uploaded 10 posts; some are of him and Lawrence on the set of the new movie, others are still frames from the original flick, “Bad Boys” (1995), as well as fan art, and a montage of three snippets of recent public appearances where he discussed the soon-to-be-released sequel.
One clip is a promotional sit-down of him and Lawrence in partnership with distributor Sony Pictures. A second is from the Academy Award winner and Lawrence’s interview with Funny Marco.
The third, also filmed in April, is when the “I Am Legend” actor appeared on “360 with Speedy.” During the filming of that movie, he discussed fame, his career, the oversharing of information about his marriage throughout 2023, and at the end, he was joined by Lawrence to talk about their return to the big screen.
On the run: Bad Boys-style. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back in #BadBoys: Ride or Die – exclusively in movie theaters June 7. pic.twitter.com/OfuySgcs0c
— Bad Boys: Ride or Die (@BadBoys) March 26, 2024
Regarding the bombshells about his and Pinkett Smith’s union like her 2020 reveal that she had an “entanglement” with singer August Alsina and last year’s statement that she and Smith had been living separately for at least seven years, the Philadelphia native said he was fine with his personal life being thrust into the forefront.
“I want my life to be examined, and if I can learn something that will help you,” he told Speedy, adding that “there certainly can be more artistry in the delivery of the gift, but I want to be able to talk about the things I’ve done right [and] the things I’ve done wrong and be able to deliver them for people to look at, you know. To me, an unexamined life is almost worthless, you know.”
Smith also said, “I’m gonna do it more artfully this year… I’m certainly going to be a little more delicate with it, but to me, the process of evolving and elevating and learning how to love, and learning how to share, and learning how to interact — that’s what we’re all doing, you know.”
While his upcoming public appearances for the film are seemingly hanging in the balance, Smith has not been in hiding. In fact, it has been the opposite.
In a nostalgic return to the stage, he performed “Men In Black” during J. Balvin’s Coachella set. His wife of 27 years and his children were also in attendance.
