A new analysis is suggesting Will Smith‘s star power has dimmed quite a bit in terms of his reputation with the public, months after the infamous slap heard around the world at the Oscars back in March.
In case you’ve been living in a cave, Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on live TV after the presenter made a joke that seemed to take a jab at the alopecia suffered by the Independence Day actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Now, a reputational score derived from surveys is indicating Smith’s rank has drastically plummeted. Before the slap, the Q Scores consistently ranked Smith “among the country’s top 5 or 10 most positively rated actors,” Variety reported. That placed him in the company of beloved household — and family-friendly — names alongside Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.
But the latest survey, conducted in July, saw Smith’s positive Q Score drop from 39 to 24; the actor’s negative rating more than doubled, from less than 10 to 26. That means 24 percent of survey recipients rated Smith as among their favorite personalities, and 26 percent of survey recipients rated him as “fair” or “poor,” according to the latest Q Score.
Pinkett Smith also incurred reputational damage following the ordeal, while Rock’s rating “saw no effect,” the report said.
Just last month, Smith released a lengthy video apology for his behavior, which included a specific apology to Rock. Smith famously did not apologize to Rock during his Best Actor Oscar speech the same night the slap occurred, but he did express regret for his actions at the time (his lack of a pointed apology at the Oscars was addressed in the recent video). Smith did offer an initial apology to Rock, specifically, via Facebook post the next day.