How Will Smith Really Felt About Jada Pinkett Smith's Oscar Boycott Call

When the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards were announced, one of the first voices to question their lack of diversity was actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Not only was she frustrated with the lack of representation for black actors, or any other people of color, but she has called for a boycott of the awards ceremony. Now her husband Will Smith, who many thought might receive a nomination this year himself, has spoken out in support of his wife.

While Will Smith fully supports his wife’s comments, as well as her call to action, he gives her all the credit for it. The actor tells Good Morning America that he wasn’t even in the United States when the entire thing came down.

I was out of the country at the time, and I came home and I went, 'What happened?' … She's deeply passionate and when she is moved, she has to go. And I heard her words and I was knocked over. I was happy to be married to that woman. But I appreciated the push. There's a position that we hold in this community and if we're not a part of the solution, we're a part of the problem. It was her call to action for herself, for me and for our family, to be a part of the solution.

Will Smith then went on to confirm that he also will be skipping the awards show, though, much like director Spike Lee’s recent comments, he seemed to be speaking only for himself and did not specifically ask anybody else to follow suit.

Smith complemented everybody who was nominated and did not question any of the performances that were nominated. Instead, he focused on the importance of diversity as a way for Hollywood to properly represent the country. He called diversity "the American superpower" because of the variety of people who live here. He believes that it’s important that Hollywood reflect the nation as it is and that all people see themselves reflected on screen. The Concussion actor points out that in his two previous Oscar losses, he lost out to other black actors, Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, which he sees as evidence that the Academy’s diversity problem has been getting worse, not better.

When asked if a lack of nomination for Smith himself might be at the heart of his wife comments, Smith briefly admitted that it could have been part of it, but said that if his had been the only nomination for a black actor, then nothing about what she said would have been different. Check out the full interview below.

As one of the most prominent black actors in Hollywood, Will Smith’s voice is one that will be heard. It will be interesting to see if these comments rally even more people to the cause, and how that may impact the awards show as a whole.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.