Will SmithWill Smith has made his first major red carpet appearance since his shocking Oscars slap.
During the 2022 Academy Awards in March, the “King Richard” actor walked onto the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock after he compared his wife Jada Pinkett Smith – who has the medical condition alopecia – to G.I. Jane.
Smith later apologized to his fans and peers, and after spending several months out of the public eye, he took time to pose for photographers at the “Emancipation” premiere at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
The 54-year-old, who wore a brown suit for the event, was joined by his wife Jada and children – Trey, 30, Jaden, 24, and 22-year-old Willow – on the red carpet.
In “Emancipation,” Smith plays a slave named Peter who escapes from a Louisiana plantation after nearly being whipped to death.
And while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star admitted there was a “poetic perfection” in the timing of the project.
“When I took this film, I envisioned the potential service it could be to modern social conversation. I thought it would be a necessary reminder of some of the roads we had gone down as a country in the past to potentially avert any of those similar paths,” he mused. “To have a movie like this in this time for me, and even this time in my life, is poetic perfection.”
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, “Emancipation” will open in select cinemas on Friday before streaming via Apple TV+ a week later.
