Will Smith was known as out on-line after a 2016 interview about rejecting Django Unchained over violence resurfaced.

Will Smith discovered himself again within the sizzling seat Wednesday (August 13) after a 2016 interview clip resurfaced on-line, racking up greater than eight million views in a single day and reigniting debate over his previous and current views on violence.

In the viral throwback, initially recorded by The Hollywood Reporter, Smith defined why he handed on the lead function in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, citing a conflict in imaginative and prescient with the director.

While he was initially on board, Smith mentioned the movie’s deal with revenge didn’t sit proper with him.

“We sat for hours and hours and hours about it. I love it, I wanted to make that movie so badly, but with that story, I felt the only way I could make that movie is it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story,” Smith mentioned within the clip.

“I don’t believe in violence as the reaction to violence,” he added. “It has to be for love… violence begets violence.”

Will Smith on turning down DJANGO UNCHAINED: “For me I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer.” pic.twitter.com/xlPllvpka7

— Todd Spence (@Todd_Spence) August 13, 2025

That stance didn’t age effectively within the eyes of many on-line, particularly after Smith’s now-infamous slap on the 94th Academy Awards.

Social media customers wasted no time declaring the contradiction between his anti-violence feedback and his onstage assault of Chris Rock in the course of the 2022 Oscars.

One person wrote, “‘…and that’s when I decided to slap the s### out of Chris Rock.’” Another chimed in, “He can smack a n#### publicly but he can’t kill a slavemaster.”

A 3rd added, “This bums me out because I think he was in the right for slapping Chris Rock and I wish he applied that same logic towards revolution.”

Will Smith Says “Love Will Make You Do Crazy Things” After Oscars Slap

The slap, which occurred throughout Rock’s presentation for Best Documentary Feature, was in response to a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, a results of her alopecia analysis.

Smith went on to win Best Actor for King Richard later that evening.

Ironically, throughout his acceptance speech, Smith mentioned, “Love will make you do crazy things.”

The authentic Django Unchained function finally went to Jamie Foxx, who starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz within the 2012 movie

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