How can Will salvage his career?

[Vipa]

It’s been a few months since the Oscar’s incident and the public hasn’t seemed to let up on him. There was a post I saw on Reddit a few days ago. It was an image from behind the scenes of Men in Black. A shot of Will sitting on a bench. The entire point of the post was to show how much work and equipment goes into filming on simple shot. In the comments some of the most upvoted comments had to do with his career being over now or making jokes like “keep my next film offer out your f’n mouth” (alluding to studios pulling offers or flat out no longer offering them to him.)

im not condoning what he did, but it’s kind of absurd to me that one lapse in judgement and one completely uncharacteristic decision has erased more than 30 years of his public image. People have done way worse and have been embraced by the public upon their return. But people really seem to have an undeserved hatred of the Smith family, so much so that they’re happy Will is going through this. 
 

so ultimately, how can he bounce back? What does he have to do to win the public back? 

[Ale]

I think he needs to be seen in public again, either by going to movie premieres or events, or being active on his social media again. He has to act normal even knowing that people will keep reminding him what happened and make jokes about it. But act normal after all. To keep being who he is, who he has always been. And sooner or later, do a show with Chris Rock to talk about why he reacted the way he did, to try to explain why he did what he did, and hopefully settling this once and for all (or at least clearing things up a bit), just like in the encounter he had with Janet Hubert in the FPOBA reunion.

Until this happens, I'm afraid people won't stop talking about it or forget it, if they ever do, so I think it would be a good thing for him to act normal again and not give that feeling that he's hiding from everyone, somehow. But, of course, he needs to do it when he's really ready and has received all the help he is surely looking for.

Just my opinion.

[bigted]

will needs to hook up with jeff and do more music, f hollywood, get back to the foundation of what got you started fresh prince, real hip hop, don't forget the true heads make another homebase code red or willennium

[gosia]

I'm sitting here at home watching I am legend on TV, one of five Will's films on TV this evening in my country lol is this what canceled looks like? Let the Hollywood PR folks do their job. Step 1 give it time, let him recover personally, also people need to let their emotions out even when its all anger. Step 2 remind people how great he is, make people miss him. Don't you worry. He will be just fine.

Edited July 9, 2022 by gosia

[Hero1]

He needs to come out and address it we need to hear from Will - the statement just didn’t cut it. Not saying anything on camera is not helping at all. It’s bad PR in my book. Time isn’t the issue whenever we finally see Will he is going to have to talk about it - so saying nothing is really achieving nothing.

[JumpinJack AJ]

First and foremost, he needs to do what is right for him. I don't think this silence is a PR move, so I think what's he's doing is good.  As I get older, I feel like my awareness that the pubic is generally simple minded becomes more and more apparent. There's going to be those people who can only make some snide, uncreative joke about what went down because they enjoy the downfall of others.  For others, absence makes the heart grow fonder. 

I don't think he needs to work with the media or attend events when he comes back.  I don't care to see him on a red carpet or having an interview with some news personality.  Joining people of privilege in Hollywood just isn't attractive to me.  I think what he needs to do, when he's ready, is come back with some quality, artsy, impactful content that addresses the event and lets people in on his life a bit.  Maybe it's a song. Maybe it's spoken word.  Maybe it's a social media project that isn't simply about getting attention and likes. I don't think film is the way to go right now.

Will means a lot to lots of people in different ways.  Who am I to say how people should process it?  At the same time, I'm thinking "get over it".  He did something crappy, Far less worse than the stuff other people in pop culture have done.  We're coming up on four months, y'all. 

For me, personally, I put on the music from time to time and it's a huge reminder that what went down is a flawed drop in an ocean of greatness. 

[Simon Berglind]

(Lerkot here, just cant bother to figure out my password again)

1. He needs to let the whole Oscars thing go. People are going to keep talking when he pops up again, and he needs to ignore it.

2. He needs to quit making ****e movies. I feel like 8 or 9 of his last movies were garbage. Not really because of his performances but just because they were... bad.

3. He needs to realise he is not 30 and won't reach previous levels of fame and success. The YOOF just won't see this old man as their main dude.

IMO time to stop thinking about box office numbers and record sales and just do things he think are fun/good, and he could keep recording movies/series and rapping for another 30 years or so no problem.

[bigted]

word if mick jagger and paul mccartney can still do music at 80 years old so can jjfp and krs one

[Jazzy Julie]

People will always make jokes about the slap for the rest of his career unfortunately. People still joke about the entanglement, they still talk about the open marriage. It will always be there and someone will always make a comment.

 

I don’t however think it’s the end of his career. He’s too liked and too talented for it to overshadow his whole personality.

I think the next step for him is to go about his business. Do a new film, then as he’s promoting it, he will undoubtedly be asked and he can address it then. 
 

I don’t think he should do an interview just about it. It’s just bringing it all up again.

[jive prince]

he could make a surprise appearance at one of jeff’s upcoming shows. do a couple of songs, and go viral for his music.

stay away from the red table. no personal interviews. just keep it light and entertaining.

[JumpinJack AJ]

I do think popping up at one of Jeff's shows would be a good idea.  That way he's in a position where he's supporting someone instead of making it about himself.  Jeff is the one person who has been entirely in his corner when it comes to the press. I feel like that kind of crowd would be in his corner the most, too.  Footage of it would get around, making it a special low key moment. From the start I've been saying music is the healthiest playing field for him right now. 

[ant1]

I Hate today's society you can't make one wrong laps in judgement and the public have there pitch forks out it's really hard as a fan right now because you say something in public about not even the incident like there's been articles on facebook about I AM Legend 2 and you can't even be excited for the movie without people coming at you and i don't get it yeah what Will did was wrong but what i don't understand is other people have done much worse and when they come back people forgive them dso why can't Will be forgiven I hate today's society 

Edited August 4, 2022 by ant1

[analogue]

No matter what Will does it'll never be enough for some people. He made a Youtube video apologizing and people said he only did that to save his own skin. But if he didn't say anything publicly about it those same people would be calling him a coward for not addressing it. In this situation Will is damned if does and damned if he doesn't. 

[ant1]

It's been so frustrating as a fan personally because you can't openly talk about him now or enjoy his work wether it be music or movies without people bringing up the incident and i'm on youtube just wanting to listen to his music and search after search you just see the oscar incident pop up and it's just draining at this point i'm going to be a fan forever but i'm so over the oscar crap 

[JumpinJack AJ]

I don't really care what people think, so if a conversation comes up where it makes sense to bring him up, I will. I don't know anybody who's been overly critical of him like you'll see in some online comments.