Disney has delayed the Will Smith-fronted National Geographic documentary Pole to Pole, and Netflix has canceled Bright 2 — starring Smith — in the wake of the actor attacking Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.
Pole to Pole — a nature series featuring Will Smith visiting the North and South Poles — has been delayed by Walt Disney Co.’s National Geographic division, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The series was supposed to start shooting in three weeks, but has been reportedly pushed back until the fall.
NatGeo has delayed the start of production on its big Will Smith show following the Slap. But it's still happening.
Netflix has also abandoned plans to make a sequel to Brright, but that is unrelated to the incident.@chrispalmeri https://t.co/rj5T5RNc3y
— Lucas Shaw (@Lucas_Shaw) April 21, 2022
Meanwhile, Netflix has officially canceled Bright 2, the sequel to Smith’s 2017 sci-fi-fantasy film, reports Yahoo! Life.
The delay by Disney and cancelation by Netflix are the latest signs that Smith is facing a major reckoning following his onstage meltdown at the Academy Awards, in which he marched onto the stage and smacked Rock across the face.
After the attack, the Bad Boys star retook his seat in the audience and proceeded to shout, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.”
***LANGUAGE WARNING***
The Academy condemned the battery, declaring that it “does not condone violence in any form,” and later announced a formal investigation into the matter.
The Academy does not condone violence of any form.
Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
Smith, however, was seen carrying on with his night, collecting his Oscar for Best Actor, which he won for his performance in King Richard, and later danced the night away at a Vanity Fair after party, where he told the Hollywood Reporter, “It’s been a beautiful night.”
Watch Below:
WATCH: Will Smith, along with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, dances to his own tunes at the Vanity Fair #Oscars After-party.
He won the Best Actor for #KingRichard #Oscar2022 #VanityFairOscarParty #WillSmith pic.twitter.com/GTz7JOjKEW
— Aayush Sharma (@JournoAayu) March 28, 2022
Smith later resigned from the Motion Picture Academy, saying in a statement that his “actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 54-person board of governors banned Smith from attending the Academy Awards or any Academy events for 10 years. The move came just 12 days after the actor assaulted Rock at the Oscars.
About a year before Smith blew up his iconic career, he revealed he is open to running for public office “at some point” in the future. The actor’s years of pushing a radical, left-wing agenda offer insight into how this $350 million Hollywood elite would act if elected.
Smith has gone full-fledged Black Lives Matter, backed proponents of Critical Race Theory (CRT), and embraced boycotting Georgia over the state’s voter integrity law.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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