Will Smith is on his promo run for his upcoming film Emancipation directed by Antoine Fuqua. Based on a true story, the movie follows the life of Peter, an enslaved man who runs away from his plantation in search of his family. He eventually joins the Union Army and during a medical exam, his bare back, which was severely scarred due to a near-fatal whipping by his former plantation's overseer, was photographed and published byThe Independent, displaying the barbarity of slavery in America.
Of course, the primary topic of discussion has been the slap at the Oscars, even though Smith has repeatedly emphasized he hopes his actions don't distract people from noting that this is both Fuqua and many people on the team's best work.
"This character, what he had to endure and what he had to survive, only God could make that possible," Smith says, explaining the way faith is explored throughout the film.
At any rate, Smith stopped by The Daily Show to talk with Trevor Noah (who is leaving the show next week) about the movie and infamous slap, in what's probably been his most candid, interesting interview yet. After digging into interesting aspects of the film, which partly focuses on the six-month period between January and June when slavery officially ended, yet enslaved people had yet to receive their freedom, Noah and Smith get into what happened that night.
Noah, who's known for bringing both insight and perspective to his observations, wanted to know how Smith's being dealing with his "journey" following the much-talked-about incident, which Smith called a "horrific" night. He admitted that he was going through some things that evening, and acknowledged that you never know what the person next to you is dealing with.
“There’s many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just — I lost it, you know?” Smith explained. “I was going through something that night, you know? Not that that justifies my behavior at all. It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That is not who I want to be.”
Smith went on to say, "I guess the thing that was most painful for me is, I took my hard and made it hard for other people.” He added,“I understood the idea when they say hurt people hurt people.”
Noah then shared his thoughts on the situation. “I love Chris. I’m friends with him," he said. "I love you, but this is fucked up. I know that as Black people, Black people get together and go, ‘What was Will doing? What the hell happened?’ Noah said. “A lot of Black people were like, ‘He should go to jail.’ Like, you need to relax yourself.”
Noah ended the conversation by saying the incident “shouldn’t define” Smith’s legacy. “I don’t think any one of us in life deserves to be defined by our one fuck-up."
Emancipation will premiere in theaters on Dec. 2 and on Apple TV+ Dec. 9. Watch the full interview below.
