The incident of slapping Will Smith at the Oscars will forever be remembered as one of the lowest points in the entertainment industry. The idea that a mega star like Will Smith can’t keep his cool and humiliate a man in front of the whole world, the masses don’t take something like that lightly. This is the year of controversy, ladies and gentlemen. And the fun is just beginning. Sony Chairman Tom Rothman, who took over Sony’s Motion Pictures Group in 2015, recently spoke with Deadline, where he discussed the possibility of Will Smith returning to Hollywood with Bad Boys 4. Is Tom Rothman serious ? He’s only been raving about Will Smith, does that mean he’s coming back in Bad Boys 4?
The controversy over the slaps of Will Smith at the Oscars
At this year’s Oscars, Chris Rock had the golden opportunity to host. Like every other Oscars host, Rock took his time roasting the celebrities seated on the front of the stage. It was his great misfortune that one of the couples who caught his eye was Will Smith and Jada Smith. Jada’s recent battles with alopecia forced her to go bald, but Chris Rock made a GI Jane joke that got Will Smith hurt.
He took the stage and slapped Chris Rock as the event was broadcast live around the world. The repercussions were almost immediate. Many celebrities and even the general public reviled Will Smith for thinking he could get away with literally assaulting another person live on stage. Some of them said that Chris Rock went overboard by ridiculing Jada’s medical condition. But the damage was done. Most people thought Will Smith was the culprit, not the victim. The Academy banned Will Smith shortly after the whole fiasco. Will Smith’s next big movie project – Bad Boys 4, has reportedly been put on indefinite hold.
Sony Motion Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman Hints Will Smith Returns in Bad Boys 4
Asked about the future of Bad Boys 4 and the Will Smith slap controversy affecting the project, Rothman politely replies:
No. It was incorrect. This film has been in development and still is. There were no brakes to pump because the car was not moving. It’s a very unfortunate thing that happened, and I don’t think it’s really for me to comment, except to say that I’ve known Will Smith for many years and I know he’s a good person . He was an example of a very good person having a very bad time, in front of the world. I believe his apologies and regrets are sincere, and I believe in forgiveness and redemption.
Why Will Smith Could Return In Bad Boys 4
The Sony Pictures president revealed that naysayers weren’t sure their model would work. Sony doesn’t have an exclusive streaming platform and too often relies on a few good franchises – or so Sony’s critics say. Rothman explains that Sony is much more than the Spider-Verse. he claims that Sony’s intellectual properties are “fantastic” but were rarely used before his takeover.
When I took over Sony, we were like, oh, Sony doesn’t have an IP address. Not true. We actually had fantastic intellectual property. You just had to focus on it. We had Jumanji, Bad Boys, Uncharted. Ghostbusters, another example. Just before I got here they took a turn on a road that wasn’t working very well. But thanks to Jason Reitman and his relationship with Ivan, may he rest in peace, we were able to resurrect that into a huge success, both in theaters and in home entertainment.
So it seems that for Sony to participate in Will Smith for Bad Boys 4 is to protect the intellectual property and franchises of their films. Rothman names Bad Boys 4 among some of Sony’s best-known franchises and the way he praised Will Smith for simply being “a good person having a really bad time” proves that Will Smith is somehow coming back. at Bad Boys 4.
