Will Smith delivers first in-person awards speech since 2022 Oscars
Will Smith has made his first appearance on an awards stage since he infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. Smith accepted the Beacon Award at the African American Film Critics Association ceremony.
Smith took the award alongside Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua, whose speech began: “The Beacon Award is intended to highlight films that are tackling challenging subjects with insight, enlightening, as well as engaging the audience. It was our hope that Emancipation, that it would be able to bring Peter’s triumphant story and unwavering faith and his deep love for his family to life.”
Fuqua then handed Smith the microphone, who said: “Emancipation was the most individually difficult film of my entire career. It’s really difficult to transport a modern mind to that time period. It’s difficult to imagine that, that level of inhumanity.”
In the film, Smith plays an enslaved man by the name of Peter who brings about his own freedom. In his speech, Smith also recalled being spat on by a white co-star during filming, which ramped up the tension and gave him a better understanding of racial injustice.
“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 realised that Peter couldn’t have called the director.”
Smith added: “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. He does his line and spits in the middle of my chest again. I just held in that moment, and there was a part — it makes me teary right now — there was a part of me that was grateful that I got to really understand. And then, in the distance, I hear a voice, and Antoine says, ‘Hey, let’s do a take without the spit.’ And in that moment, I knew that God was real.”
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