Things may not look good for Will Smith right now, but Whoopi Goldberg is among those who believe this will all blow over for the actor. Goldberg and the other co-hosts of The View returned to the topic of Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars on Monday. Even in light of the news that two of Smith’s movies have been put on hold, Goldberg laughed off the idea that his career is in long-term danger.
“Some of Will Smith’s future projects are in question. The question is does he have a path back?” Goldberg began, reading the scripted intro to this segment. She then entered her own commentary first. She chuckled and said: “Yes, of course, he does. He’ll be fine. He’ll be back. No worries.” The two projects referenced in this discussion are Bad Boys 4 which was paused by Universal and Netflix’s Fast and Loose, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The first to respond to Goldberg was Ana Navarro who seemed to agree with her. She said: “I’m so tired of talking about this I’d like to slap myself… He’s had over 30 years of a career where he’s had a very positive image, been a positive role model, he’s been very philanthropic, he’s done all sorts of things. None of us should be judged by our worst moment.”
“I imagine that companies are thinking, ‘wow, if I put out this movie on my streaming platform, am I going to lose money? And will the audience still be there for him, or will people boycott the art?’” added Sunny Hostin. “I think it’s a valid discussion. Joy and I were talking about this on Friday – can you separate the art from the artist? I know Whoopi has always said ‘of course!’ …I think people feel like they want to have a say with their dollar.”
Goldberg argued that even if Smith’s actions in his personal life were condemned, people wouldn’t be able to argue with the merit of his work for long. For comparison, she brought up Grammy winners Louis C.K. and Kanye West. She said: “They’re not giving us these awards because we’re nice people!”
Sara Haines agreed that whether Smith still gets jobs going forward is up to studios and streaming platforms. However, she argued that the Oscar slap may impact the degree to which audiences are able to suspend their disbelief and feel immersed in his future performances. She pointed out other performers with larger-than-life personalities off the screen that are difficult to “believe” in fictitious acting roles.
Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and an internal investigation into the altercation is still ongoing. At the time of this writing he has one previously filmed project due out – Emancipation on Apple TV+. The streamer has not announced an official release date for that show just yet.
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Photo Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
