In reality, the slap was silent, but its shock wave reverberated throughout the world. From the center stage of the Kodak Theater on March 27, 2022, that ripple continued to vibrate, eclipsing his career Will Smith, of the former “Mr. Nice” of Hollywood and loved by the public, who in 30 seconds destroyed his artistic future.

The actor got up from his seat at the Oscars and slapped comedian Chris Rock, who had just made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia. Neither the statuette he won a few minutes later, for the film “King Richard” nor the messages of remorse were able to make the cinema audience forget.

Today, June 7, 2024Smith’s first film since the incident is in theaters, and the actor chose to play it safe, enlisting his friend Martin Lawrence and returning to his most popular franchise, “Bad Boys,” with a fourth sequel, the “Bad Boys: Ride or Die”. Is the world ready to forgive the actor?

Between irony and recognition of the mistake, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” puts its protagonists in the same predicament that the actor finds himself in today: to “clear” their names, after their leader, who died in the previous film, he was accused of being a corrupt police officer paid by the drug cartels and as a result have become suspects themselves.

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Smith took too long to react and repent. In the frenzy that followed at the Oscars after slapping Rock, the actor returned to his seat next to his wife. After being announced as the winner of the Oscar for Best Actor, he gave a speech in which he said: “Love makes you do crazy things”. Hours later, a video went viral of him dancing at the Vanity Fair party to one of his biggest hits, the “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”. That was also his… “end”.

In the United States, experts believe that in its opening weekend, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” will gross between $30 million and $50 million in 3,850 theaters. Sony estimates the minimum at $30 million – other analysts say $45 million is more likely. Any box-office result close to that amount will confirm that the public has forgiven Smith.

“The most important thing is to accept the fact that I’m human and I’m not perfect. It is in this pursuit of perfection that you lose your self-esteem. In recent years I have been forced to accept my flaws and learn to love myself a little more as an imperfect person.”he said in an interview.

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