More than two years after his infamous “Oscar slap”, Will Smith took the first step in his comeback with a surprise appearance at the Coachella music festival this weekend.
Smith took to the stage during Sunday's set where Columbia superstar J. Balvin performed “Men in Black,” from the 1997 blockbuster film of the same name. And just like his character Agent J in the movie, the actor and musician wore a black suit, tie and sunglasses.
Widely circulated footage of the unexpected duet shows Smith and J. Balvin dancing in front of a backdrop of projected alien heads, flanked by a troupe of dancers dressed as agents and green extraterrestrials. It shows that there are.
After J. Balvin was playfully dragged off stage by dancers, Smith held up a Neuralizer, a magical tool that characters in “Men in Black” use to erase people's memories. Finished the performance.
The glamorous audience included Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who shared a clip of the performance to her Instagram Stories.
“When J. Balvin made a great night,” she wrote.
Smith has kept a low profile in public life after sparking a media firestorm by attacking comedian Chris Rock live on stage at the 2022 Academy Awards. That year's Oscars were expected to be a career high point for Smith, who shortly after the incident won Best Actor for his performance in the film King Richard.
Pinkett Smith's personal life has also come under intense scrutiny in recent days after Pinkett Smith revealed last fall that she had been living apart from her husband since 2016, despite maintaining the appearance of a devoted couple. There is.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences banned Smith from attending the Oscar ceremony for 10 years in response to the slap scandal. Despite his diminished public image, Smith is set to return to screens this summer in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which also stars Vanessa Hudgens and Martin Lawrence.
Although Smith did not explicitly mention the slap, he hinted at the dangers of being a big star during an appearance at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Festival in December.
“Fame is a unique monster and I've had to be really careful…You can't get excited when everyone is saying nice things about you,” he said, according to Deadline. “The more you take it when people say good things about you, the more hurt you will feel when people say bad things about you.”
He continued: “What I've learned over the past few years of adversity is that you have to be clear about who you are and what you're trying to do in the world, and you can't rely on others.” Me I applaud your continued focus on your mission. ”
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