Will Smith returned to social media on Saturday, sharing a video of himself and his 29-year-old son Trey catching a tarantula at their Southern California home. This came after Smith’s social media hiatus following the notorious slap he received at the Academy Awards in March.
Posting from a Holiday Inn, Smith, 53, sounded scared as he watched his eldest child trap the huge spider inside a glass dish.
“What the whole h—l. Before his kid comforted him, “That’s a tarantula,” Smith said, “That is a big a— spider.”
The Academy Award-winning actor only recently returned to the platform after taking a vacation from social media following the March broadcast of the Oscars during which he walked on stage and smacked Chris Rock during the live transmission. Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was the target of a joke that Rock had just completed telling.
SHEREE ZAMPINO of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” says she “never had a conversation” with son TREY about her ex-husband Will Smith’s Oscar’s slap.
Smith and Trey, with whom he had shared parental responsibilities with his ex-wife Sheree Zampino, argued over who was responsible for squishing the spider.
“I’m on a chair,” Smith says in the video. “You need to get that out of here, Trey. Now, now.”
Smith added: “You’re young and strong. It won’t hurt you that much if the dog bites.”
WILL SMITH AND THEIR WIFE JADA PINKETT SMITH WERE SPOTTED TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE INFAMOUS CHRIS ROCK OSCARS SLAP
Trey turned to the camera shocked, but acted without fear and caught the eight-legged creature underneath a glass bowl. Then, Smith tried to insert a piece of paper under there so they could take the spider outdoors.
“We’re taking turns,” he assured his youngster. “We work well together as a unit. Sure, he can move quickly.”
Although Smith had given up on removing the tarantula from the room, their late-night journey was far from over: “It’s not to my taste at all. We’re selling the house.”
Will was married to Trey’s mother, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” actress Sheree Zampino, for three years before they split in 1995.
Since the Oscars incident in March, in which he stormed the stage and struck Rock for making fun of Jada’s bald head about “G.I. Jane,” the “Bad Boys” star has generally avoided the public eye. Pinkett Smith had previously highlighted her battles with alopecia, an autoimmune illness that causes hair loss.
Despite the slap, Smith was still able to win the prize for “King Richard” as a best actor not long after the ceremony.
In a statement to Fox News Digital after the incident, Smith said he was resigning from the Academy because he “betrayed the trust of the Academy.” After that, Smith was barred from any Oscars-related activities for a decade.
I have personally replied to the academy’s disciplinary hearing notification, and I assume full responsibility for any consequences that may result from my actions.
“That which I did at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony was surprising, terrible, and completely unacceptable on my part. Many people, including Chris, his family, many of my close friends and loved ones, everyone in the room, and people throughout the world, have been hurt by my words and actions. The academic community can no longer put their faith in me because I abused their confidence.”
In a YouTube video posted in July, Smith provided further context for the encounter and disclosed that he had sought out Rock to discuss it, but that the comic was not yet ready to meet with him. Over the video’s five minutes, he apologized to Rock and others, including the comedian’s mother, Rose Rock.
Chris has used the slap as a talking point during his recent “Ego Death World Tour,” comparing Smith to the former Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in 2018 following a fatal confrontation in Los Angeles in 2015.
“Everybody’s trying to be an f—-ing victim,” Rock reportedly added, as quoted by People magazine. “No one will listen to the genuine victims if everyone claims to be one. Even getting hit by Suge Smith… The next day, I started a new job and became a parent.”
When asked if words hurt, he repeated a phrase from a prior concert he did with Kevin Hart on the “Only Headliners Allowed” tour, in which Dave Chappelle also appeared.