Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Charity to Shut Down Amid Fallout of Oscars Slap

It has been almost two years since the 2022 altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, a moment that broke the Internet for a multitude of reasons. The ordeal, which involved Smith slapping Rock on the face over a joke made about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, has made waves in the entertainment industry ever since — and apparently, the consequences are still ongoing. A recent report from Variety reveals that the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation, an organization founded by the couple in 1996, is in the process of permanently shutting down. According to their findings, the foundation experienced a year-over-year drop in revenue of 83% from 2021 to 2022, after organizations such as American Airlines and CAA chose not to donate in the wake of the slap.

The Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation is centered around the couple’s efforts to advocate for matters such as health and wellness, arts education and sustainability. The report claims that the couple had planned to wind down the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation even before the slap controversy, and will focus on privately giving the same amount of money to charity.

Why Did Will Smith Slap Chris Rock?

The moment at the Oscars, which culminated in Will walking onstage and slapping Rock in the face, occurred after Rock made a joke about Jada’s haircut, which is a result of her years-long battle with the autoimmune disease alopecia. 

“That was a horrific night, as you can imagine,” Will said in a previous interview with Variety. “There’s many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just — I lost it, you know? I was going through something that night, you know? Not that that justifies my behavior at all… It was a lot of things. It was the little boy that watched his father beat up. his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That is not who I want to be.”

“I was gone,” he said. “That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time. My nephew is nine. He is the sweetest little boy. We came home. He had stayed up late to see his uncle Will and we are sitting in my kitchen, and he is on my lap, and he is holding the Oscar and he is just like, ‘Why did you hit that man, Uncle Will?’ Damn it. Why are you trying to Oprah me?”

How Did the Oscars Respond to the Will Smith Slap?

In the aftermath, Smith, who went on to win the Best Actor award for his performance in King Richard later that night, resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was later banned from attending the Oscars for the next ten years. While appearing at the 2023 Oscars Nominees Luncheon, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang acknowledged that the organization did not handle the ordeal perfectly.

“I’m sure you all remember we experienced an unprecedented event at the Oscars,” Yang revealed (via Variety). “What happened onstage was fully unacceptable and the response from our organization was inadequate. We learned from this that the Academy must be fully transparent and accountable in our actions, and particularly in times of crisis you must act swiftly, compassionately and decisively for ourselves and for our industry. You should and can expect no less form us going forward.”

What do you think of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith closing down the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!