Will Smith Picks Up Another Major Award

BET honors him as best actor for 'King Richard' role
By Mike L. Ford,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2022 1:04 PM CDT
Will Smith Picks Up Another Major Award
Best actor honoree Will Smith attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Will Smith has remained among the seldom seen since the slap incident in March, but his name is still spoken at award ceremonies, most recently at Sunday’s BET Awards. Smith won best actor for his lead role in the sports drama King Richard, which also won best movie, per People, noting that the honor comes three months after Smith resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and was subsequently banned from its award shows for 10 years. Smith did not attend the BET ceremony. For his role in King Richard, he has also won accolades from BAFTA, the Golden Globes, NAACP, SAG, and Critics Choice, not to mention the Oscars.

In late March, Smith issued an Instagram apology to Chris Rock and the whole world. "Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive," he wrote, adding that he had “reacted emotionally” to a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s medical condition. “Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason,” he added. That’s pretty much the last anyone has heard from him since, other than some paparazzi snapshots from Mumbai, according to ET, which spoke to actress and King Richard co-star Mikayla Bartholomew at the BET Awards. "Every time I talk to him, he always says everything is in divine splendor, ya know, so he's good."

Pinkett Smith spoke out in April, saying she hoped her husband and Chris Rock could reconcile as “two intelligent, capable men.” For his part, Rock has joked about the incident but declined to talk in detail so far. As Smith figures stuff out, a number of productions have been suspended, per Hello! Magazine, including Netflix thriller Fast and Loose, Sony’s Bad Boys 4, and Roku’s comedy series This Joka, in which Smith “invites a diverse lineup of comics to explore the nature of comedy and its unique ability to bring people together.” (More Will Smith stories.)

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