Michael Bay would '100 percent' work with Will Smith again after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars.
In just more than two weeks, Smith's career has shifted for the worse: at this year's Academy Awards, he won his first-ever Oscar for his fantastic performance in King Richard.
Alas, the ceremony was overshadowed by an incident from earlier in the ceremony: when Smith took to the stage, smacked Rock and warned him to 'keep [his] wife's name out [his] f***ing mouth' after the comedian cracked a 'G.I. Jane 2' joke at Jada Pinkett Smith.
Bay worked with Smith on the first two Bad Boys movies, with the director cameoing in the third film, Bad Boys For Life.
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In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly for the release of Ambulance, Bay discussed the now-infamous slap.
Talking about his initial reaction, he said: "At first, immediately I'm like... did this just happen? Then I saw the yell from Will. That's a real Will yell.
"Will is an amazing fighter. He's studied boxing. First of all, it's wrong to do, no matter what. Let's just get that out there.
"But when people said, 'Oh, he could have killed him.' No, a slap is different. A punch? Yeah, you can kill someone. Will gave him a slap."
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Bay said he couldn't let himself get wrapped up in the controversy surrounding Smith because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He said: "I've been very affected by this Ukrainian war right now. I'm friends with the Klitschko brothers. I've been to Kyiv, I've met with the mayor. And I'm like, you know what? There are babies getting blown up by the hundreds right now and people are so concerned about this.
"I don't know. To me, it's just like, enough of it. All right, so a dramatic thing happened, but I just think we've got to get our priorities straight."
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When asked if he'd work with Smith again, Bay said: "Absolutely, 100 percent. He's a very even-keeled guy. Very even-keeled."
Smith has since apologised to Rock for the incident and resigned from the Academy, as well as being banned from the Oscars for 10 years. "I accept and respect the Academy’s decision," he said.
While unconfirmed, it's believed a number of Smith's upcoming projects have either been paused or affected due to the fallout of the slap still dominating social media. This includes Bad Boys 4, Netflix's Fast and Loose and Apple TV's Emancipation.
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Topics: Will Smith, Film and TV, Chris Rock, Entertainment
Cameron Frew