Will Smith began his career at a young age with a sitcom called ‘The French Prince of Bel-Air.’ The actor has won several awards, most notably, the Academy Award. Smith is also the recipient of four Grammy Awards. However, the 2022 Oscars ceremony did not go well for him. A huge controversy erupted when he slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage.
Actually, Chris was doing his set when he joked about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s cropped hair and compared her to Demi Moore in ‘GI Jane‘. This was quite offensive to Jada as she had publicly revealed that she suffers from alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. The joke instantly triggered Smith and he slapped Rock. The reaction was met with a lot of criticism. After the incident, it was disclosed that even actor Paul Rodriguez was prey to Smith’s behavior. Let us know what happened!
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Did Will Smith Bully Paul Rodriguez?
It seems Will Smith has had a violent streak since the beginning. Paul Rodriguez revealed that the actor bullied him during the shooting of the movie ‘Ali‘ back in 2001. It was based on the life of boxer Muhammad Ali who was played by Smith. Rodriguez played cornerback of Muhammad Ferdie Pacheco. Paul Rodriguez told the Sun that he was constantly bullied and treated badly by Smith.
Paul recalled the incidents wherein Will was kind to everybody except him. The interview happened after the Oscars incident. Rodriguez considers the event to have been a “nightmare” in its entirety. This is because he believes that the mental wounds he sustained were significantly more excruciating than a physical slap would have been. Rodriguez further stated how tough it was for him to endure all of the harassment that killed his excitement for ‘Ali‘.
To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t the first time that Paul and Smith were working together. Before ‘Ali‘, the two were in the 1993 comedy ‘Made in America.’ Paul’s experience with Will was quite good back then. However, according to him, when he met Smith for ‘Ali‘, his behavior flipped to a different level. Rodriguez also tried to approach his filmmakers regarding the trauma.
However, everything was ignored stating that Will Smith was “under pressure”. Lastly, Rodriguez made a personal effort to make amends with Smith and put the past behind them when he saw that nothing had changed. But his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. According to Rodriguez, Smith blew this aside and urged him to “shut up and stand there” when he brought up his issues.
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Paul Rodriguez Called Himself A “Sacrificial Lamb”
The official statement that was made by Paul Rodriguez read, “Chris Rock only took one slap at the Oscars … but I took a verbal slap from Will Smith every day. And sometimes I think the emotional injuries are just as deep, if not deeper, than physical ones. That movie was meant to be a huge stepping stone in my career, but for me it ended up being a nightmare because of all the sickening abuse I got from Smith.”
“He was evil to me but nice to everyone else. It was sort of like Jekyll and Hyde. I did everything within my power to try to shine in that movie, including taking voice lessons to sound like Pacheco, and for all that I got ostracized and humiliated. This seriously injured my career, because Hollywood would’ve looked at how I was cut out and thought, ‘Wow this Rodriguez was so bad they cut him from the movie’, but that wasn’t the case,” he continued.
Paul concluded by talking about how he felt like a “sacrificial lamb” and his dream role turned into a nightmare: “It was a disaster and I have to overcome that. Smith was amazing in that role, he was nominated for an Oscar – which I think he should’ve won – and the movie was incredible. But all I was left with was just a sickening feeling like I was some kind of sacrificial lamb. What was meant to be a dream role was made into a nightmare.”
