Will Smith Gets Emotional in First Awards Speech Since 2022 Oscars Incident
02.03.2023 - 17:41
/ etonline.com
Will Smith is speaking at award ceremonies again. The 54-year-old actor attended the 14th annual African American Film Critics Association Awards in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday night and took the podium to say a few words. The speech marked the Oscar winner’s first in-person acceptance at an awards show since he slappedChris Rock onstage at the 2022 Academy Awards.Smith accepted the Beacon Award with Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua. His co-star, Charmaine Bingwa, and AAFCA cofounder Gil L.
Robertson handed out the award.After a quick speech from Fuqua, Smith took the stage to say a few words. “Emancipation was the most individual difficult film of my entire career,” Smith said. «It’s really difficult to transport a modern mind to that time period. It’s difficult to imagine that, that level of inhumanity.»Smith then recalled being shockingly spat on by a white co-star while filming a scene, and how that impacted his understanding of the injustice of the slavery era.«It was the second day of shooting and 110 degrees,» he said.
«I was in a scene with one of the white actors, and we had our lines, and the actor decided to ad-lib. So, we’re doing the scene. I did my line.
He did his line. And then he ad-libbed and spit in the middle of my chest. If I had pearls on, I definitely would’ve clutched them.
I wanted to say, ‘Antoineeeeee,’ but I stopped, and I realized that Peter couldn’t have called the director.”He continued, „I sat there, and I took a deep breath, and we did take two, and the actor felt that the ad-lib had gone well. So, we do take two. I do my line.