Cancel Culture is often cruel and unforgiving.
Ask Roseanne Barr, canceled for an ugly, racially charged tweet. She has had to forge a new career independent of Hollywood, since her Fox Nation Stand-Up Special to Daily Wire+”Mr. Birchum.“
Louis CK lost millions throughout his career after confessing that he performed a sex act in front of unsuspecting women. Like Barr, he may never be accepted back into Hollywood, Inc.
Will Smith faced a similar problem of your own creation.
The “King Richard” star slapped Oscar host Chris Rock in front of a global audience two years ago. The actor took issue with Rock’s reference to his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head. The incident, quickly dubbed “The Slap,” tarnished Smith’s career in a way no one could have predicted.
Would audiences embrace the affable Smith again? Could he return to the action comedies that once rocked the box office?
We received our response over the weekend.
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Will Smith and the box office: it’s not complicated
“Bad Boys: Ride or Die”, Smith’s first populist film since “The Slap”, was a huge success at the American box office. The movies Loot of 56 million dollars Not only did it give Hollywood a sigh of relief in the face of recent blockbuster failures, it showed that Americans are willing to forgive (if not forget) Smith’s transgressions.
The film reunites Smith with Martin Lawrence as Miami cops whose bond helps them survive crisis after crisis. It’s precisely the kind of blockbuster that Smith delivered for decades.
Would the sequel land differently given the post-“Slap” era? Apparently not.
Need more?
The new film indirectly references the slap in a clever way that seems organic to the story.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Smith’s character, Mike, suffers panic attacks in the fourth installment, and one of them strikes at the worst possible time. Lawrence’s Marcus knows he needs Mike’s police skills to save the day. Marcus then slaps him repeatedly to snap him out of his emotional stupor.
It’s a brilliant way to acknowledge what happened without taking the audience out of the experience.
Cancel culture, like Twitter, is not real life
The public does not agree with the rules and regulations of Cancel Culture. They understand that movie stars are human and make all-too-human mistakes. Smith has suffered significantly as a result of his unpleasant actions that night.
Her brand (handsome, charming, talented and carefree) may never recover from the incident. The bond she shares with other artists may also take years to resolve.
We will never know the full story behind the jobs he lost after the incident.
Cancel Culture may want to permanently ban select stars, but the movie-going public has a mind of its own.
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