Will Smith's infamous Oscars scandal has had an adverse effect on his career, but the newly-crowned Best Actor winner won't have to hit the unemployment line anytime soon. Ever since last month's Academy Awards, which saw Smith slapping Chris Rock over a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, the consequences have been continuous. The actor lost a lot of fan support in addition to planned films in production, and the Academy also announced that Smith has been banned from all events for the next ten years.
However, this does not mean that Smith's career is over, as he has at least one big-name director standing by his side. Michael Bay, who's previously worked with Smith on films like Bad Boys 1 & 2, feels that the backlash against the actor is unwarranted. As explained in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bay doesn't condone the slap, agreeing that it was "wrong" after first assuming it to be a stunt. He also feels that too much has been made of it since, suggesting that a slap couldn't have been all that harmful, and says that everybody's focus should instead be on the conflict in Ukraine, echoing previous comments Bay made about the situation.
"At first, immediately I'm like, Did this just happen? Then I saw the yell from Will. That's a real Will yell. Will is an amazing fighter. He's studied boxing. First of all, it's wrong to do, no matter what. Let's just get that out there. But when people said, 'Oh, he could have killed him.' No, a slap is different. A punch? Yeah, you can kill someone. Will gave him a slap. I'm thinking, Everyone's talking about this, but you know what? You start thinking about life and it's like, 'Oh, my God.' Because I've been very affected by this Ukrainian war right now. I'm friends with the Klitschko brothers. I've been to Kyiv, I've met with the mayor. And I'm like, you know what? There are babies getting blown up by the hundreds right now and people are so concerned about this. I don't know. To me, it's just like, enough of it. All right, so a dramatic thing happened, but I just think we've got to get our priorities straight."
Michael Bay Would Work With Will Smith Again Without Question
While Michael Bay feels that too much attention has been given to the Oscars scandal, would he still be willing to work with the actor, even with the attached controversy? There's no question about it, as Bay himself has revealed. When asked directly if he would work with Smith again in the future, here's what Bay had to say.
"Absolutely, 100 percent. He's a very even-keeled guy. Very even-keeled."
It remains unclear when Smith will take on his next role, as the dust is still settling from his Oscars ban. As for Bay, the filmmaker's newest movie, Ambulance with Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, is now playing in theaters.