The rapper performed Sunday night in Los Angeles at the BET Awards. He performed his new song, You Can Make Itwho talks about his slump after the 2022 incident.
Return to stage for Will Smith. The rapper, who has long abandoned music for cinema, performed on Sunday evening June 30 at the BET Awards in Los Angeles. He performed his new song, titled You Can Make It, a song released two days earlier, seen as a reference to the difficult period that followed the slap he gave Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but whatever’s going on in your life, I’m here to tell you that ‘You Can Make It,'” he declared by way of introduction.
The 55-year-old artist then began his rendition of the song. He was joined for the chorus by singer Chandler Moore and the Sunday Service Choir, a gospel choir founded by Kanye West. Rapper Kirk Franklin then joined them on stage for a verse.
“The comeback is always more important than the slump,” wrote Will Smith on X (formerly Twitter) in the caption of an excerpt from his performance.
Difficult years
Will Smith has been keeping a low profile since the slapping incident at the 94th Academy Awards. The actor stormed onto the stage to punch comedian Chris Rock in the face after he made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairless head.
The media coverage was worldwide, and the sanctions were heavy. Will Smith, rewarded that evening with the best actor prize for The Williams Method, had to leave the Academy of Oscars in the weeks that followed. He was also banned from all ceremonies for ten years.
But the artist is starting to take center stage again: he was invited in April by J.Balvin to happen at Coachella. Together they performed Men In Black, hit from the soundtrack of the 1997 blockbuster that helped launch his fame. He also returned to the big screen in early June with the release of Bad Boys: Ride or Diebox office success.
