The fallout from Will Smith’s Oscar slap continues: Miami may not get a ‘Bad Boys 4’
The fallout from the Slap Seen Around The World continues for Will Smith, and this one hits home.
The 53 year old actor had quite a few projects in the pipeline that have stalled since he infamously smacked Oscars presenter Chris Rock for making a rude joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair.
Since the incident witnessed by millions, the “King Richard” star resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and apologized publicly to Rock.
But it seems The Slap isn’t going to go away, at least for Hollywood brass. And Miami may pay the price, by not getting another “Bad Boys.”
No. 4, which would have again teamed up Smith and Martin Lawrence as police partners and best friends, is reportedly on hold.
We’re pretty sure it would have filmed here, just as the last three did.
The last “BB” flick, “Bad Boys for Life,” was shot in various locations in 2019. Smith and Lawrence were seen yukking it up all over town in between action scenes and mingling with residents.
The actors were so entrenched in our local scene that they even got a key to the city from Mayor Francis Suarez who proclaimed Jan. 12 Bad Boys For Life Day at Pitbull’s SLAM school.
It’s unclear where No. 4 would have been shot or who would have helmed it, but we can’t imagine it being anywhere else for Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett.
We know for a fact that Smith is a big fan; most recently, as a newly minted Oscar winner he rapped his classic hit named after our tropical paradise at a fancy afterparty.
The original “Bad Boys” (1995) and the sequel (2004) were directed by Miami resident Michael Bay, who has opinions about the current situation. He told Yahoo! Entertainment that the smack wasn’t a big deal and we should all move on.
“I don’t really care. Hollywood gets very self-absorbed. There are babies getting blown up in the Ukraine right now. We should be talking about that.”
Bay also said that he had never seen Smith act that way before: “He’s not that guy. I’ve never seen him lose his cool like that.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 4:10 PM.
