Entertainment
Will Smith’s popularity ‘suffers significant decline’ after Chris Rock Oscars slap-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro
The slap left Hollywood reeling.
Will Smith’s popularity has suffered a ‘significant’ decline following the infamous Oscars slap earlier this year, it has been claimed.
In case you somehow missed it, the King Richard actor stormed on stage to confront Chris Rock, at the ceremony in March, over a joke he made regarding Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
The 53-year-old then returned to his seat, where he yelled for the comedian to ‘keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth’.
Following the incident, he recently shared a video apology over his actions, and has begun a low-key return to social media with a highly-relatable spider removal video.
However, Will might have to try a little harder on his comeback after it was reported that his ‘Q Score’ – an industry metric to assess public appeal – has severely dipped.
According to Variety, he had regularly ranked among the most popular 10 actors in the bi-annual survey, alongside household names including Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
Will Smith’s Q Score has reportedly dramatically dropped (Picture: AFP)
This suffered a huge change in July’s poll, the first since the Oscars, and plunged to 24 from 39, which Henry Schafer, the executive VP of Q Scores, described as ‘a very significant and precipitous decline.’
The publication reports that the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor’s negative rating soared from less than 10 to 26, which is much higher than the average negative Q Score of 16 or 17.
Chris was not impacted by the ordeal, but Jada also suffered in her Scores, falling from 13 to 6 in the positive poll, and her negative number rose from 29 to 44.
Although the numbers show that Will’s reputation has suffered after the slap, Henry explained that he has seen much more significant declines.
Will famously slapped Chris on stage at the ceremony (Picture: AFP)
‘[It’s] not as bad as I’ve seen for other celebrities who have experienced antisocial events,’ he continued to Variety.
‘A lot depends on personality and how they pursue the resurrection of their image.’
It must be noted that the Scores are only measured twice a year, so the long-term impact on the Fresh Prince star’s career – and his subsequent apology – is not yet apparent.
Jada’s score also reportedly fell after the incident – while Chris’ score remained unchanged (Picture: AP)
It is also not clear whether the Scores were taken before or after Will’s video reflecting on the incident was released at the end of last month.
‘I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk and when he is, he’ll reach out,’ he said in the clip.
‘I will say to you Chris, I apologize to you, my behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.
‘I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment, and I’m not going to try to unpack all of that right now.
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‘But I can say to all of you – there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment.
‘There is no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Will Smith’s reps for a comment.
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