Will Smith's Emancipation Film Screening Postponed

Will Smith and Jada (Photo: Reuters via ANTARA)

JAKARTA - A number of Will Smith's film projects have been delayed after the slap event that occurred at the 2022 Oscars. Most recently, the film Emancipation, which was scheduled to be released in 2022, has reportedly been postponed to next year.

According to Variety, Apple TV+ plans to delay the release of the film until sometime in 2023. While Apple has yet to share an official date, one source familiar with the situation said, it is an unspoken truth that the action drama will not hit the platform in 2022.

Emancipation is a film directed by Antoine Fuqua in which Smith plays a runaway slave. The story is based on a true story from an 1863 photograph entitled The Scourged Back.

Quoted from ANTARA, in early April, Netflix postponed the production of the Fast and Loose action film, starring Will Smith, as a result of the slap incident. Smith was also reportedly given a 40-page script for the Bad Boys franchise, but Sony has opted to remove the blockbuster from active development.

Will Smith caused a stir by slapping comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. The incident began when Chris Rock made a joke about the bald head of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Rock said he couldn't wait to see Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia areata, star in GI Jane 2. This infuriated Smith. He then went up on stage and slapped Rock.

Shortly after the incident, Smith issued an apology to Chris Rock and the Academy. In the aftermath of the incident, Will Smith was banned from attending the Academy Awards for 10 years.