Will Smith hopes Oscars slap won't affect new film Emancipation in awards

Will Smith says he hopes slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars does not affect how the team behind his new film Emancipation are recognised in the upcoming awards season.

The Hollywood star said that while he understood if people were “not ready” for his comeback at the 2023 awards circuit, the film’s production team should not be “penalised”.

During the annual awards show in March, Smith infamously stormed the stage and slapped Rock after comments the comedian made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Smith later apologised to Rock and the Academy for the incident, but was banned from attending any Academy events or programmes for ten years.

He also told Trevor Noah on The Daily Show that he was “going through something that night” but admitted that his “bottled up” rage did not justify his behaviour.

Emancipation is Smith's first big-screen project since the incident, and he discussed the potential effects of the controversy in an interview with Fox 5.

Asked what he would say to those who thought it was “too soon” for him to be making a comeback, he replied: “You know, I completely understand that if you know someone is not ready.

“I would absolutely respect that and allow them their space to not be ready. My deepest concern is my team.

“The people on this team have done some of the best work their entire careers, and my deepest hope is that my actions don’t penalise my team.”

Smith added that he hoped that “the material power of the film” as well as “the timeliness of the story” would “open people’s hearts” and allow the hard work done on the film to be appreciated.

Emancipation is based on the true story of the enslaved man “whipped Peter” who escaped from a Louisiana plantation in the 1860s after he was nearly whipped to death.

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