LIKE a scene from a film Will Smith would once have starred in, the former Hollywood A-lister climbs on stage after three years in the career wilderness.
His fans scream in adoration. One holds up a sign saying his songs helped her survive cancer. And he’s finally back in his beloved spotlight.
Will Smith went from Hollywood’s hot ticket to a man no movie maker wanted to touch[/caption]
Video of fans with odd-looking fingers and distorted faces posted on Will Smith’s YouTube[/caption]
So far, so good with the footage of the former Fresh Prince’s comeback tour to promote new album Based On A True Story.
But look a little closer and the banners declaring love are spelled wrong and the hands holding them have six fingers — leading to claims the clips have been generated by AI.
The toe-curling film — which was posted on his official YouTube channel this week under the title “My favourite part of tour is seeing you all up close. Thank you for seeing me too” — has now gone viral.
The number of bizarre visual errors, such as blurred faces, oddly shaped hands and a sign that reads “FR6SH CRINCE” have had many mocking the 56-year-old former golden boy’s desperation for publicity.
The actor and singer hit the stage in the North Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough at the start of his European tour, performing to 6,000 fans at the TK Maxx Presents . . . gig.
Fall from grace
Other artists recently on the bill include reformed Nineties indie band Shed Seven and Ali Campbell from UB40.
Commenting on the video, one fan jeered: “Imagine being this rich and famous and having to use AI footage of crowds and bot comments on your video. Tragic, man. You used to be cool.”
Another advised Smith to just “enjoy” his retirement, calling him “pathetic”.
So how did it come to allegedly faking audiences and playing in Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall tomorrow for one of Hollywood’s most bankable film stars, who is now separated from wife Jada Pinkett Smith?
Well of course, it started with a slap. One that millions of people around the world saw.
The moment he stormed the stage at the 2022 Oscars to attack host Chris Rock while screaming: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth”,
Will went from Hollywood’s hot ticket to a man no movie maker wanted to touch.
Since then, the Oscar and Grammy-winning star, who is worth a reported £270million, has had a spectacular fall from grace. He was banned from the Academy Awards for ten years.
Netflix paused development of his movie Fast And Loose. And revenue for the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation plunged 83 per cent, leading to the charity’s closure.
In 2020, Jada admitted to infidelity with a friend of their son Jaden and in 2023 she told the world in her memoir Worthy that she and Will had been separated for many years.
Until recently, Boom! Shake The Room singer Will had stayed tight-lipped about the moment that changed his career forever.
But during the promotion for this album, he made a very unrelatable comparison to the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.
Oh, and he also invented a new word. In an online interview, he said: “I can look at [the Oscars incident] as an absolute mess, horrible, terrible — or I can look at it as a really great kintsugi opportunity, to rebuild something beautiful and powerful.
Will shocks the world as he slaps host Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022[/caption]
In her book Worthy, Jada revealed the couple have been separated since 2016 but have never filed for divorce[/caption]
“I hate admitting that I’m only human — my ego wants to be Superman. The word I was thinking about when I thought about the last couple of years of my life was ‘brutaful’ — brutal and beautiful.”
And he is not the only member of the family whose career is suffering.
Two weeks ago, daughter Willow, 24, posted pictures to her 11.5million Instagram followers of a sad selfie with tears rolling down her face and the words: “Who ate all the p***y?”
Several commenters on X slammed the Smith family as “broken” and “weird”, with one writing: “Will Smith and Jada have utterly failed as parents.”
In an interview with Brit singer Yungblud, Willow — who had a 2011 hit with Whip My Hair — revealed she was having panic attacks from a young age when performing.
I can look at [the Oscars incident] as an absolute mess, horrible, terrible — or I can look at it as a really great kintsugi opportunity, to rebuild something beautiful and powerful.
Will Smith
She said: “I had a flashback of being ten or nine and having an anxiety attack on set and basically feeling like everyone around me was like, ‘You’re just a brat. Why aren’t you grateful?’. They saw it as a tantrum. Now, I look back and know it was an anxiety attack.”
Meanwhile, son Jaden, 27, the former child actor who starred in The Karate Kid remake in 2010 and alongside his dad in The Pursuit Of Happyness in 2006, was snapped in June with drug paraphernalia while sitting on a bench in Paris at 3am.
Having seemingly moved away from acting, Jaden recently declared he was starting a food van for homeless people to get free meals, called the I Love You Restaurant.
Posting about it on Instagram, he said: “When people ask us why we do what we do the answer is very simple: It’s because I love you.”
Dad Will, meanwhile, has reflected on being the ultimate Hollywood pushy parent.
Speaking on actor Kevin Hart’s show Hart To Heart two years ago, he said: “2010 was like the greatest year as an artist, as a parent.
‘Scorched earth’
“Karate Kid came out in June, Whip My Hair came out in October. I’m building this dream of a family I’ve had in my mind. I’m going to do it better than my father did it.”
However, it did not seem the rest of the family were all on board with the Men In Black star’s dream, with Smith revealing: “No one wanted to be in a platoon.
Willow was the first one to begin the mutiny and it was my first realisation that success and money don’t mean happiness.
Jaden Smith spotted at 3am sitting on a bench in Paris, smoking a bong with a friend[/caption]
Willow, 24, posted pictures to her 11.5million Instagram followers of a sad selfie with tears rolling down her face and the words: ‘Who ate all the p***y?’[/caption]
“Up until that point, I really believed that you could succeed your way to a house and a family and you could win your way to happiness.”
He went on: “You can have so much stuff that it makes you miserable.
“That was my first pull-back and I was like, ‘OK, what am I missing?’. I was driving the people around me in a way that I was leaving scorched earth around me.”
Although Will, who could once command more than £20million a movie, has addressed his Oscars outburst and intense parenting style, he has still not spoken about the strange dynamics of his marriage with actress-turned-talk- show-host Jada, 53.
In 2020, Jada revealed on her Facebook show Red Table Talk — with Will sitting beside her — that she had carried on a long “entanglement” with singer August Alsina, who was her son’s friend and 21 years her junior.
In the bizarre moment between the married couple, Jada said she and Will were “going through a very difficult time”.
“I was done with your ass,” joked Will, laughing. “Yeah, you kicked me to the curb,” she responded. “We broke up.”
Will and Jada’s open marriage has been well-known for years in Hollywood, with Rebel Wilson joking at the 2022 Baftas that Smith’s best performance was “being OK with all his wife’s boyfriends”. It was not a great look for Will.
In her book Worthy, Jada revealed the couple have been separated since 2016 but have never filed for divorce.
A source said the pair are now living in different homes and Jada’s talk show has been cancelled, with many fans blaming the programme for Will’s career crash and, ultimately, the downfall of the entire Smith clan.
American presenter Nick Cannon celebrated its end on his show, saying: “If there was no Red Table Talk, then he wouldn’t have slapped the s**t out of Chris Rock.”
This may well be Will’s thoughts too as he walks on to the stage in front of a 2,000-strong crowd on Saturday and shouts: “Hello Wolverhampton!”
Will is not the only member of the family whose career is suffering[/caption]