Will Smith

[cubanitafresca]

It's a pretty good apology. He takes responsibility and recognizes that the damage goes beyond the person he slapped.

But there was one line that is pretty clueless or maybe entitled/arrogant?

"If you hang on, I promise we'll be able to be friends again"


Nah dude, that's not your call. That's the decision of the people who've been hurt. It's odd to me that he doesn't seem to get that.

Edited to add: After going back and rereading it ... he really should have stopped after the apology to Questlove. Because the part about his central trauma really takes away from the apology.

[mementomori]

I hope with this apology, this can be FINALLY laid to rest. Chris Rock has seemingly moved on. Hope all these celebrities stop weighing in on this now.

[ahah]

I think I'd give the apology a C+. I think that he listed the correct people to apologize to - Chris, his family, Questlove. I deduct points for him bringing up before apologizing that he reached out to Chris and Chris didn't respond. That's irrelevant, and it kind of seems like he mentions that trying to portray it as he's doing the right thing and Chris won't. I agree with Cubanitafresca that the part about his central trauma is out of place and takes away from it. This is not about Will - it's about righting the ways he wronged others. Also agree on the promise that we'll be friends again being the wrong wording. I think it would have been better if he said something along the lines of "I hope I can earn your friendship again".

The pieces of the video that are about him shine a light on his arrogance. His arrogance got him into this problem. It seems like he's got more work to do on that front.

[eveschmeve]

I think it’s on the right track. He’s been famous since he was 18 years old, he’s 53 now. Of course he’s going to be arrogant, I feel like you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have some arrogance after being in Hollywood for that long. (Doesn’t need to be Hollywood either, I know plenty of successful people in business who are the same way.)

We’ll see what he does next but this seems like a good first step to me.

[ahah]

Jul 29, 2022 18:17:47 GMT -4 eveschmeve said:

I think it’s on the right track. He’s been famous since he was 18 years old, he’s 53 now. Of course he’s going to be arrogant, I feel like you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have some arrogance after being in Hollywood for that long. (Doesn’t need to be Hollywood either, I know plenty of successful people in business who are the same way.)

We’ll see what he does next but this seems like a good first step to me.

That’s a very fair point. But I think the better actors figure out how to listen to their publicists and play a little more humble.

[granolamom]

I figured the timing of a public apology would mesh with the release of his next tv show or movie!

[Ginger]

Feb 3, 2013 0:34:44 GMT -4 mementomori said:

I hope with this apology, this can be FINALLY laid to rest. Chris Rock has seemingly moved on.

Chris said he plans to address it eventually. I'm anticipating a lengthy piece in a stand-up special.

[cubanitafresca]

Chris Rock called Will "Suge Smith" and I'm dying.

[laurenj]

Jul 29, 2022 18:17:47 GMT -4 eveschmeve said:

I think it’s on the right track. He’s been famous since he was 18 years old, he’s 53 now. Of course he’s going to be arrogant, I feel like you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have some arrogance after being in Hollywood for that long. (Doesn’t need to be Hollywood either, I know plenty of successful people in business who are the same way.)

We’ll see what he does next but this seems like a good first step to me.

I don't even know that it matters what he says at this point. In that one foolish moment, he did such damage to the brand he's spent the last 40 years cultivating.

And it's not even necessarily an actively punitive thing for me, it's not like I think he should rot in hell or lose everything due to his mistake. It's more like when I hear the name Will Smith, I think of this thing first. Perhaps that will fade with time, but for now, I suspect he's going to be box office poison. They can't exactly send him out to do press for a film, you know every reporter is going to want to talk about this first.

The incident was so public and so much discussed, I don't think his apology is going to get nearly as much press as the slap itself did, and I don't think it'll be enough to rescue his reputation.