More Will Smith Projects Have Been Cancelled

Ever since Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, things have not been going right for the Best Actor winner. 

Despite apologising to Rock and the Oscars for his behaviour, he has still been forced to resign from the academy, and a number of his projects have been cancelled. Netflix has stepped away from Fast And Loose - a drama which was supposed to star Smith, and a sequel to his film Bright. Sony has also reportedly paused production on Bad Boys 4, and Apple is yet to give a release date for Emancipation - a drama about slavery which Smith was cast in. 

If you want to see Will Smith’s Best Actor speech following the slap, then check out the video below.

As reported by Deadline, another of Smith’s shows has had the plug pulled. This Joka is a stand-up comedy show hosted and executively produced by Smith, which was aired on the streaming service Roku. Apparently, the cancellation of the show was long in the works, and not due to the Oscars’ incident.

Roku was informed that it would have to decide to renew the show for a second season before the first season had aired. With the option to renew expiring before Roku had the chance to check the viewing figures, it seemed unlikely that the show would ever receive a second series. 

The article also announced another cancelled project at Netflix. In June 2021, the platform announced a comedy variety special which would star Smith as the host. However, the show never ended up being filmed, and currently there are no plans for Netflix to move forward with the project. It appears that this cancelled project is as a result of the Oscars’ incident though Netflix has not made comments on its motivations.