Willow Smith—along with her mother, Jada, and siblings, Jaden and Trey—showed up to support her father at the premiere of Emancipation on November 30. The evening marked the family’s first red carpet appearance since the infamous Oscars slap and ensuing scandal.
Willow wore a show-stopping pair of Stella McCartney statement trousers embellished with crystal-studded hip cut-outs for the occasion. She kept the rest of her look minimal and monochromatic with a cropped black vest and platform creepers.
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The premiere directly followed Will Smith’s emotional appearance on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah this week—his first late-night television interview since the “horrific night” that left Chris Rock dumbstruck on live television and Smith banned from attending the Oscars for a decade. Years of bottled-up rage stretching back to his childhood bubbled up, Smith explained to Noah, and in that moment, the actor “just lost it.”
“I guess the thing that was most painful for me is I took my heart and made it hard for other people,” he added. “I understood the idea when they say hurt people hurt people.”
Months after the incident, Smith is still worried about how the slap will impact the cast and crew of Emancipation. “That is killing me dead,” he continued. “I hope that their work will be honored and not be tainted based by a horrific decision on my part.”
Smith cited his daughter’s initial reticence about his decision to make “another slave movie” by producing and starring in Emancipation—the story of a man’s treacherous escape from slavery through the swamps of Louisiana. To Willow’s point, Smith recalled saying, “’Baby, I promise you, I wouldn’t make a slave movie. This is a freedom movie.’”
Amy Sussman
Previously, Willow shared her feelings about the slap in a profile interview with Billboard.
