Will Smith’s bad time does not seem to be ending. The actor slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars because the Oscar host made an unscripted joke about Will’s wife, Jada Smith’s bald head. In a shocking moment, Smith lost his temper, went up on the stage, and slapped Rock in front of the whole world. In light of public criticism, he surrendered his award and got banned from Academy events, including the Oscars, for ten years. But things did not end there.

Since the incident, everyone seems to have backed off from attaching their name to the I Am Legend actor. This is greatly affecting his upcoming projects as well. Especially the ones that he has already finished working with. One such project is Apple’s upcoming action thriller that cost a whopping $120 Million. Whether the movie is released after Will Smith’s stint is a question.

Apple is in a dilemma over the release of their Will Smith movie

Will Smith will be leading Apple’s Civil War movie, Emancipation. But since Will’s slap gate incident, Apple is left with a major dilemma. Their movie’s reel hero has become a real-time villain, at least in the eyes of the world. The film already wrapped its shooting before the Oscar incident took place. The Apple movie was confident of being an Oscar contender. But here comes the second problem. Smith has surrendered his membership at the Academy of Motion Pitcures Arts & Sciences, along with the ban. For the Civil War movie, this is like winning a lost battle. 

Chief executive of Film Academy, Bill Kramer gives his two cents on the incident, “We want to move forward and to have an Oscars that celebrates cinema.” Meanwhile, Apple is still deciding over the release of Emancipation, even pushing the release to 2023. According to sources, Apple has declined to make any comment on anything about the film. Antoine Fuqua directed the movie with William Collage’s script. The story is based on a slave who joins the Union army after escaping the North.

Other Will Smith projects that were affected or put on hold include Netflix‘s Fast and Loose and Bad Boys 4. Smith even apologized for the incident but the world, along with Chris Rock, struggles to accept and move on. Apple has so far had a streak of success as a company, so it would be interesting to see how they deal with this issue.

What do you think about Apple releasing the film? Comment down your thoughts.