Hollywood superstar Will Smith alleged Wednesday that he was spit on by a white actor during the filming of his 2022 film, Emancipation.
Smith, 54, made the remark while accepting the Beacon Award at the 14th annual African-American Film Critics Association Awards, according to a report.
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“Emancipation was the most individual difficult film of my entire career,” he said. “It’s really difficult to transport a modern mind to that time period. It’s difficult to imagine that, that level of inhumanity.”
Still, being spit on was not part of the script, according to Smith.
“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 realized that Peter [Smith’s character] couldn’t have called the director.”
Emancipation tells the story inspired by 1863’s famous “Whipped Peter” photo, an image of a man with a scarred back who had escaped slavery, the report noted.
“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,” Smith said. “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.”
Wednesday was Smith’s first award show since notoriously slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, according to the report.
“I want to thank [AAFCA President] Gil [Robertson IV] and AAFCA. I want to thank all of you in this room for doing what you do, keeping our stories alive,” Smith said. “I want to thank Apple, because the budget was one thing, and then the budget was another thing, and then the budget was another thing, and Apple never flinched.”
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“It was the first time I had heard from a studio that the story was more important than how much it costs to get it done. … They make iPhones. They can do it.”
Smith will not be at the March 12 Academy Awards in accordance with the 10-year ban he received after slapping Rock.
