Katt Williams Explains Why He Believes Jaden Smith Might Have Derailed Will Smith’s Career
The often opinionated Katt Williams recently gave his opinion on his peer Will Smith and the Smith family. Although Smith has been the subject of controversy due to the Oscars, Williams theorized his problems began earlier than that.
Will Smith once claimed he had nothing to do with Jaden Smith wanting to become an actor
As many know, Jaden Smith once followed in his parents’ footsteps by pursuing an acting career. The young actor had his first official starring role alongside his father in The Pursuit of Happyness. From there, he further rounded out his filmography with movies like 2010’s The Karate Kid and the sci-fi flick After Earth.
Smith has often asserted that in the past he didn’t just hand his children movie roles. Instead, Smith once explained to Collider he has them earn their parts through auditioning to avoid nepotism. He also wanted to clarify that acting wasn’t a career he forced his children into.
“It may seem like we have pushed our kids into the business, but that is absolutely insane,” he once told Vulture. “I would never, ever, push somebody to have their face on a poster that’s going be everywhere in the world.”
However, he was a bit relieved Jaden chose to pursue acting since it was a profession Smith could actually help him with.
“It’s less scary to me than if he wanted to be a dentist in that I couldn’t help with what he’d chosen,” Smith said. “I have relationships with some of the biggest filmmakers and actors and producers on Earth. So I can be a huge help.”
How Katt Williams believes Jaden Smith might have derailed Will Smith’s career
Comedian Williams had a lot to offer when asked about the recent controversies surrounding Smith. Speaking with Cari Champion, Williams felt Smith’s Oscars scandal had a deeper layer of meaning to it.
“I am in the production business. I understand what is worth doing for ratings, I understand what is worth doing when the industry is canceling one black guy. I know what happens when they’re going to elevate another. And I know what happens when they don’t care about either of them,” he said.
Williams further posed the idea that Smith might have been intentionally set up at the Oscars. But unlike others, he didn’t believe the source of Smith’s perceived downfall came from his wife Jada Pinkett. Rather, the record-breaking comedian sympathized with her.
“The true tragedy is what Jada Pinkett Smith is having to go through in that scenario considering, at most, you could say maybe she disappointed Will. Other than that she has upheld black women, actresses. We’ve never been embarrassed of Jada Pinkett Smith,” he said.
However, he did feel as though Smith doing movies with Jaden was heavily discouraged by Hollywood.
“They had decided that they were finished with Will when he did After Earth with Jaden, because there was no way they were gonna let Jaden on. Because Jaden didn’t have to do what you had to do to get in, we’re not gonna let you put Jaden and Will on,” Smith said. “And from there they’ve done what was necessary to take him from a $20 million a movie, to put him in a position where maybe it can appear he has a nervous breakdown and now is unemployable.”
Did Jaden Smith quit acting?
Although Jaden has occasionally made headlines on social media, his acting career has been a bit quiet since After Earth. But he hasn’t left his acting pursuits behind. Rather, it seems he’s focused on smaller, more obscures roles and films over the years. IMDb notes that Jaden has featured in projects like Skate Kitchen and Life in a Year. However, Smith recently revealed that his son might be appearing in a notable franchise in the near future.
“My son is preparing himself physically and mentally to get a place as one of the characters who will make history for the first time in the saga of a movie that many already know and ask for,” Smith said in an interview with Pop Time.
Many fans, like those on Reddit, speculate the franchise Jaden’s preparing for is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
