Parents just don’t understand, and they haven’t been alone in trying to make sense of Will Smith’s angry assault on Chris Rock a year and a half ago at the Oscars. Perhaps to remind the world that he was once wholesome and didn’t have to cuss in his raps to sell records, he’s reuniting with his old compatriot DJ Jazzy Jeff for a surely noncontroversial performance at A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop.
The event, which Billboard reports will tape at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California on Nov. 8, will be one of Smith’s first major public appearances since “The Slap.” The special will air on CBS at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 10. It will also be available to stream and view on demand via Paramount+. Tickets are also available via Ticketmaster.
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince join dozens of other hip-hop performers who have made hits throughout the past five decades. LL Cool J, MC Sha-Rock, Big Daddy Kane, De La Soul, E-40, GloRilla, Queen Latifah, and Questlove, are all set to make appearances. The lineup also includes Arrested Development, Black Sheep, Cypress Hill, Digable Planets, Gunna, Jeezy, Juvenile, Latto, Luniz, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shanté, Spinderella, Three 6 Mafia, T.I., Too $hort, 2 Chainz, Warren G, YG, Black Thought, Bun B, Common, Jermaine Dupri, J.J. Fad, Talib Kweli, The Lady Of Rage, Monie Love, the Pharcyde, Rakim, Remy Ma, Uncle Luke, and Yo-Yo.
Smith has kept a fairly low public profile since March 2022 when he stormed onstage at the Oscars to slap Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia. Smith was banned from attending Oscars for 10 years and issued a public apology. Rock subsequently eviscerated Smith (metaphorically) in a standup special. And Pinkett Smith most recently has revealed that she and Will Smith had been separated for years before the slap. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him,’” she wrote in her memoir Worthy. “It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”
Smith has since described his marriage to Pinkett Smith as “a sloppy public experiment in unconditional love.” It’s also worth noting that while the Academy has banned Smith for now, the Recording Academy still accepts the Fresh Prince.