If it had been staged, someone would have leaked that by now.
Some of the writers for that year were on a podcast I listened to a couple months after it happened, and it sure sounded like they were all genuinely shocked. I listen to a lot of Hollywood-adjacent shows, and though I've heard people who were there or watching live say that they at first thought it might have been staged because it was so surreal, I haven't heard a single person even hint that it was actually staged. Every time it comes up, it's some variation on "holy shit, can you believe that happened?!?" or a joke about keeping someone's partner's name out of your mouth.
There's too much Internet clout to be had from being the person who spills those beans, and though the scientologists have a lot of power, I can't believe they could keep this stupid and inconsequential a secret this quiet for this long.
It's also completely contrary to Will Smith's career trajectory. He's trying to be a completely inofensive Tom Hanks-like figure. The slap really doesn't work for that image. Especially since everyone is hysterical now so the media reactions were mostly "this is cancel culture" with the "left wing" version saying that it's literally the end of press freedom in the west lmao. I think most normal (older) people were like "yeah if I make fun of a dude's wife I'd expect to get hit", but the media class by amd large thought western civilization ended that night.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Civil War movie is actually about the slap.
If it had been staged, someone would have leaked that by now.
Some of the writers for that year were on a podcast I listened to a couple months after it happened, and it sure sounded like they were all genuinely shocked. I listen to a lot of Hollywood-adjacent shows, and though I've heard people who were there or watching live say that they at first thought it might have been staged because it was so surreal, I haven't heard a single person even hint that it was actually staged. Every time it comes up, it's some variation on "holy shit, can you believe that happened?!?" or a joke about keeping someone's partner's name out of your mouth.
There's too much Internet clout to be had from being the person who spills those beans, and though the scientologists have a lot of power, I can't believe they could keep this stupid and inconsequential a secret this quiet for this long.
The vibes were too weird for it have been staged
It's also completely contrary to Will Smith's career trajectory. He's trying to be a completely inofensive Tom Hanks-like figure. The slap really doesn't work for that image. Especially since everyone is hysterical now so the media reactions were mostly "this is cancel culture" with the "left wing" version saying that it's literally the end of press freedom in the west lmao. I think most normal (older) people were like "yeah if I make fun of a dude's wife I'd expect to get hit", but the media class by amd large thought western civilization ended that night.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Civil War movie is actually about the slap.