Will Smith delivered considered one of his boldest verses in years throughout a shock freestyle on Charlie Sloth’s Fire in the Booth this week within the U.Ok.

The Oscar-winning actor used the mic to subtly handle the 2022 Oscars incident with out naming Chris Rock, letting his bars communicate volumes.

Over a moody beat, Smith rapped, “Should you speaking loopy out your face up on the stage and disrespect me on the stage, count on me on the stage.” He adopted with, “Jokers dish it out, cry out when it’s time to take it. Metropolis stuffed with actual ones, wasn’t raised to faux it.”

The pointed lyrics shortly stirred dialog on-line, extensively interpreted as a response to the slap that shocked the 94th Academy Awards.

The second he alludes to occurred when Smith stormed the Oscars stage and slapped Rock after a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. Identified with alopecia, Pinkett Smith had spoken brazenly about her situation. The incident overshadowed Smith’s Finest Actor win for King Richard and sparked international debate.

Smith’s freestyle aligns with the reflective tone of his newest launch, Based mostly On A True Story, which additionally confronts the fallout from that evening. Whereas the lyrics keep away from direct confrontation, their intent is unmistakable—that is Smith reclaiming management by means of rhyme.

Earlier this month, throughout a BBC Radio 1Xtra interview with Remi Burgz, Smith opened up concerning the aftermath. He described the interval as a painful however essential reckoning.

“After the Oscars, I shut it down for a minute and actually went into the interior work,” he stated. “The dependancy to the approval of others that I needed to dissolve—it was brutal.”

The actor additionally acknowledged the deeper self-examination the second triggered. “It was like a manhole cowl got here off some unexplored areas,” he stated. “It was scary what was in there.”

With uncooked bars and uncommon vulnerability, Smith now appears prepared to maneuver ahead—not by escaping his previous, however by assembly it head-on.