The content argues that Hollywood's long-standing practice of prioritizing profit over principle has been exposed, particularly through the reactions of comedy legends Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy to the Will Smith Oscars incident, revealing deeper issues of manufactured celebrity personas and the industry's complicity.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
We in America are misinformed.
Reality shows have warped our idea of
what a hero is or what the truth is.
>> You I don't want to be this character anymore.
anymore.
>> Who wants to even see us a movie about
some with some stereo
stereotypical characters? [music] What's
this always talking about keep it real?
We 25 years of keeping it real and being
real and all that. You really see that's
reflected in the movies that they made.
[music] the characters are trying to be
reflective of, you know, people in
society and the the the uh stereotype,
especially some stereotype
successful. That's gone. I ain't seen no
stereotypical that was successful since
the 70s.
>> Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy are two big
names in comedy that you just can't
ignore. They aren't just random
celebrities who decided to expose Will
Smith for fun. These are two of the most
important figures in comedic history.
Carrie basically reinvented what it
meant to be a movie star in the 90s with
his over-the-top energy and willingness
to be completely absurd. Meanwhile,
Eddie Murphy was literally shaping
comedy before Carrie was even famous.
Eddie Murphy delirious raw. Although
stand-up specials changed the game
forever. These aren't bitter rivals
trying to get attention. These are two
men who built empires on their own terms
and have nothing to gain and nothing to
lose by saying what they said. Like for
years now, talk show hosts, people on
television, people in sitcoms have been
hired by the government to throw you off
the track, to distract you, to make you
laugh and stuff like that, make you
happy and docel so you don't know what's
really going on.
>> For three decades, Will Smith was part
of Hollywood's elite circle. His movies
grossed over 9 billion worldwide.
Studios would bend over backwards to
keep him happy. Awards shows would roll
out the red carpet for him. The media
treated him like this perfect family man
who had figured out everything. But
here's the thing about Hollywood. When
it comes to protecting people, it's not
about friendship. And it's definitely
not about morals. It's about money. As
long as Will Smith was making those
folks rich, nobody was going to say
anything about his behavior or his
marriage or any of the weird stuff that
he was doing with his kids.
ARE YOU OKAY? ARE YOU OKAY?
>> OH MY GOD, THIS IS RIDICULOUS.
>> But then the Oscars happened. [music]
The standing ovation that Will Smith got
after slapping Chris Rock was the moment
that broke the spell. It was so obvious
that the industry was prioritizing
profit over principal. They were
applauding his toxic masculinity because
the guy doing the violence made them too
much money to criticize. And that's when
Jim Carrey said something that basically
everyone was thinking. He revealed he
was sickened after seeing Smith's behavior.
behavior.
>> I was sickened. I was sickened by the
standing ovation. I felt like Hollywood
is just spineless on mass and uh it just
it really felt like oh this is a really
clear indication that we're not the cool
club anymore.
>> We all saw a wall of protection built up
around Will Smith. Anytime something
weird happened, anytime there were
rumors, anytime people wanted to ask
questions, the industry collectively
decided to look the other way because
why wouldn't they? He made them too much
money to risk. [music] And that's
exactly what Jim Carrey was pointing out
when he called Hollywood spineless. The
standing ovation wasn't about supporting
Will Smith. It was about protecting the
investment. It was about sending a
message that says, "We don't care what
you do as long as you keep making us
rich." But here's the thing about live
television. You can't edit it. And once
that moment happened, there was no going
back. The corruption became visible. If
you want to yell from the audience and
disapprove or show a disapproval or say
something on Twitter or whatever, you
you know, you do not have the right to
to walk up on stage and smack somebody
in the face cuz they said words.
>> Jim Carrey didn't just stop at
criticizing the industry's reaction to
the Oscar incident. He went deeper and
actually analyzed what he thought was
going on with Will Smith personally. And
this is where it gets really interesting
because Carrie, in his typical
philosophical way, went straight to the
psychological root of the situation. He
said [music] the whole thing wasn't
about defending Jada. It was about
frustration. Pure ego-driven
frustration. He talked about how Will
Smith created this image of himself over
decades and [music] he's trapped inside
it. Carrie essentially called it an
avatar. This fake identity that demands
constant validation that needs everyone
to see him as a protector. And when
Chris Rock made a joke about Jada, it
wasn't just a joke to Will Smith. It was
an attack on his avatar. It was someone
pulling back the curtain on the image
he'd spent 30 years building. and his
reaction was to protect that image at
all costs, even if it meant slapping
someone on live television.
>> It didn't escalate.
>> It came out of nowhere because Will has
something going on inside him that's
frustrated. And I I I wish him the best.
I really do. I don't I don't, [music]
you know,
>> I don't have anything against Will Smith.
Smith.
>> Now, if Jim Carrey was the philosopher
breaking down the psychology behind what
happened, Eddie Murphy was doing
something else. At the 81st Golden
Globes Awards, while Eddie was receiving
the Cesile Deil Award, which is
basically a lifetime achievement award
for his outstanding contributions in
entertainment, he dropped what might be
the most devastating punchline in recent
awards show history.
mind your business,
>> This wasn't just a joke. This was a
calculated jab at Will Smith. And here's
why this moment was so devastating.
Eddie Murphy doesn't do awards shows. He
doesn't do press. And he doesn't
participate in the Hollywood machine in
[music] any way. He famously hates all
this stuff. He once said, "One of the
reasons why I don't go to award shows
and stuff, the feeling of being in a
room full of famous people who all want
to win some trophy." That feeling is
such a tie feeling. Everybody's dressed
and acting and fake. Just being in a
room full of famous people is just
weird. I don't like it. So, when a guy
who has spent decades staying away from
all this Hollywood nonsense suddenly
decides to show up, accept an award, and
then use his platform to take a direct
shot at Will Smith, people pay
attention. It wasn't some comedian
trying to get viral clips. This was
Eddie Murphy, one of the architects of
modern comedy, [music] saying something
that needed to be said.
>> You just sat up there and said, "46
years in the business, 41 years doing
movies, and your career was a success
because you kept Will Smith's wife name
out your mouth."
>> Yeah. [laughter]
No, I said that's the that's the blueprint.
blueprint.
>> To really understand what Eddie was
doing that night, we got to go back to
2007 Oscars. Murphy lost best supporting
actor for Dream Girls to Alan [music]
Arin. And what did he do? He got up and
walked out. People called him a sore
loser, but Murphy's explanation was
simple. He wasn't going to sit there and
play the sympathy guy for the cameras.
He wasn't going to give them his real
disappointment as content for their
show. That moment says everything you
need to know about Eddie Murphy's
relationship with Hollywood Awards
culture. He thinks it's fake. He thinks
everyone is just acting and performing
and being something they're not. And he
wants no part of it. So when he finally
does show up at Golden Globes to accept
an award that he couldn't really refuse,
what does he do? He uses it to call out
the exact kind of nonsense that he's
been criticizing for years. Will Smith
with his Red Table Talk and his public
displays of emotion and his crying
acceptance speeches is basically the
poster child for everything Murphy hates
about Hollywood celebrities. And that's
where Red Table Talk comes in. Because
if you want to understand why Eddie
Murphy and Jim Carrey both had issues
with the Smiths, you got to look at what
that show was doing.
>> I really felt like we could be over, you know.
know.
>> Yeah. No, we were over.
>> And then what did you do, Jada?
>> Well, you know, I think from there, you
know, as time went on, I got into a
different kind of entanglement [music]
>> with August. Remember this episode where
Jada admitted she'd had a relationship
with August Alcena while she and Will
were separated and Will was sitting
there [music] like he was this hurt
husband who was going to forgive his
wife. The whole thing became a meme.
People were mocking their whole act. But
here's the thing that Carrie and Murphy
point out. This whole interview was a PR
stunt. It was a calculated decision to
turn their marriage problems to monetize
their pain to make Will Smith a victim
and a long-suffering husband who was
going to forgive his weward wife. You
and I were going through a very
difficult time. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> And we decided
>> I was done with your ass.
>> Yeah. You kicked me to the curb.
>> I was done with you.
>> Yeah. [laughter] >> We
>> We
>> Marriages have that though.
>> By being the one who forgives. By being
the one who cries on camera, will
controlled the narrative. He became the
hero of his own scandal. All those weird
rumors about his own relationship with
other men suddenly got buried under the
buzz of this interview. And that's what
Jim Carrey meant when he talked about
the fake image that Will Smith has
created. I think that it it showed me
that there were characters being played
everywhere that [music] you know that as
an actor you play characters and then if
you go deep enough into those characters
you realize that your own character is
pretty thin to begin with.
>> So now that both Carrie and Murphy have
basically opened the floodgates,
everyone's starting to ask questions
that nobody wanted to ask before. And
that's where we're going next because
there's a whole lot of stuff that's been
floating around on the internet that
suddenly feels like it deserves a closer
look. Let's start with this guy, brother
Bilal, who worked as Will Smith's
assistant. And according to what Bilal
has claimed, he walked in on Will and
Dwayne Martin doing in a hotel room.
Now, you might be thinking, why should I
believe this? But here's the thing about
Hollywood assistants. They see
everything. They're in the car. They're
in the house. They're around when
regular people aren't. And sometimes
[music] when they leave those jobs, they
share personal stories.
>> This is unlike him, right? [music] So I
I open the um door to Dwayne's dressing
room and that's when I see Dwayne and
[music] having anal sex will
>> let me process that for a second.
>> There was a couch and um Will was bent
over on the couch and Dwayne was
standing up killing him. Murder like
murder. It was murder in there.
>> The reason these allegations keep
resurfacing isn't because people are
making stuff up. It's because they hold
some truth. Jaguar Wright has said that
Will and Jada do weird rituals in their
home and that young men who came to them
for mentorship ended up fleeing in distress.
distress.
>> THEY'RE BOTH BY THEY DO WEIRD things in
their house and young men have left
their house screaming to get away from
them in their mentorship.
>> That's a heavy allegation and she's not
some random person. She's someone who
actually exposed Diddy a long time ago.
The reason I'm including this stuff
isn't because I have a vendetta against
Will Smith. It's because when two comedy
legends like Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy
start making comments, suddenly all
these stories that were buried start
getting attention. Here's one that goes
way back. Alexis Arquette was an actor
from the Arquette family and before
passing away, she made a claim about
Will Smith's first marriage. Will was
married to Sheri Zampino back in the
early 90s and that marriage ended very
quickly. But according to Alexis, the
real reason behind this was [music] that
Sheri caught Will doing something very
messy with his manager Benny Medina.
Now, this was during the height of
Hollywood's silent era. Nobody talked
about this stuff openly. And [music]
honestly, for a guy whose entire image
was built on being this perfect family
man, having a rumor like this would be
devastating to his brand. But let's talk
about something that happened way before
any of this recent drama. Something that
actually happened on a TV set in 1993
[music] during the filming of The Fresh
Prince of Belair. Because looking back,
this might have been the first real
warning sign that people chose to ignore.
ignore.
>> And y'all need to get over yourselves.
You have a huge production company that
you only produce your friends, your
family, and yourself. So, you are a part
of Hollywood. You are a part of the
system that is unfair to other actors.
Janet Hubert played Aunt Vivien for the
first three seasons of Fresh Prince. And
then suddenly she was replaced by
Daffhne Maxwell Reed. And the official
story, the one that got published
everywhere, was that Janet Hubert was
difficult, unprofessional, and wanted to
be the star of the show. Basically the
classic Hollywood story of the evil
black woman. But here's what really
happened. According to Janet, she had a
contract dispute. She was asking for
fair pay and when she refused to take a
bad deal, the machine turned against her
and Will Smith instead of supporting his
co-star led the charge in branding her
as the [music] problem. In a reunion
episode, Janet shared the whole story
sitting beside Will Smith.
>> You know, words [music] can kill. >> Mhm.
>> Mhm.
>> I lost everything. Reputation,
everything. everything. And I understand
you were able to move forward, but you
know those words, calling a black woman
difficult [music]
>> in Hollywood is the kiss of death. >> Mhm.
>> Mhm.
>> It's the kiss of death. And it's hard
enough being a dark-skinned black woman. >> Mhm.
>> Mhm.
>> In this business.
>> Now, let's jump forward to 2012 when
Will was filming Men in Black 3 in New
York City. And this story is kind of
wild. So, Will Smith, despite having a
luxury apartment in the city, demanded
that production rent him a massive
double-decker trailer unit. We're
talking about a 53- ft thing that cost
$2 million. It had a full gym inside and
was parked on the streets of Soho,
blocking traffic, blocking businesses,
and creating a nightmare for residents
with noise and fumes. When complaints
started coming in, Will Smith refused to
move his stuff. This guy who has
hundreds of millions of dollars, who
could have just taken a car to a nice
hotel or used the apartment he already
owned, insisted on keeping this massive
trailer parked in a residential
neighborhood because that's what he
wanted. This isn't just celebrity
privilege. This is a man who genuinely
believed the rules didn't apply to him.
That's a mindset that develops when
you've been protected for 30 years and
told you're too special in the industry.
But moving ahead, let's talk about what
happened after the Oscars slap. from a
legal standpoint because this is
something Jim Carrey brought up that I
think is worth exploring. Chris Rock
could have pressed charges. What Smith
did was assault. It was caught on camera
and it was witnessed by millions of
people, but Chris Rock decided not to
file charges to avoid the hassle. And
going through a legal process,
especially when you're a celebrity, is
exhausting. You become a target for
trolls and for all kinds of nonsense.
However, Jim Carrey had a different
perspective. He said if it was him, he
would have filed a $200 million lawsuit
because the video of what happened is
going to exist forever and the person
who assaulted you should have to pay for that.
that.
>> They asked Chris, "Do you want to file
charges?" And Chris apparently said,
"No, he did not."
>> He doesn't want the hassle. I I for
announced this morning that I was suing
Will for $200 million cuz that video is
going to be there forever. It's going to
be ubiquitous. You know that insult is
going to last a very long time.
>> By not holding Smith legally
accountable, fans received an indirect
hint that violence has consequences, but
not if you're rich enough. There's also
this bigger issue of what this means for
comedy itself. Chris Rock is one of the
greatest comedians of all time. Eddie
Murphy is another. Dave Chappelle is
another. And what they all understand is
that there's this unwritten contract
between comedians and audiences. The
comedian is supposed to push boundaries.
The audience is supposed to laugh.
That's how the art form works. When
someone walks up on stage and assaults a
comedian for a joke, they're attacking
the entire craft. [music] And that
should scare everyone who values free
speech and artistic expression.
>> Chris is one of those comics that
he and Chappelle are the goats. And
they're like the youngest, oldest comics
in the world. They've been doing it
since they were kids. And I think, you
know, the contract you set up with the
audience is that these are indeed jokes
and we have to embrace our freedom of speech.
speech.
>> Here's what experts have been saying
about Will Smith's psychology because
this stuff is fascinating and also kind
of disturbing. Doug Ellen, the creator
of Entourage, tweeted something after
the Oscars incident went viral. He
called Smith a gaslighting who made the
entire night about himself. And that's a
heavy label, but when you break it down,
it makes a lot of sense. A gaslighting
narcissist is someone who manipulates
situations to make themselves the
victim, who twists narratives to serve
their image, who makes everything about
them even when [music] it's not. And
when you look at Smith's behavior, it's
all designed to position him as the hero
of his own story. This is what Jim
Carrey was getting at with his Avatar
theory. Smith spent 30 years building
this perfect image, the Fresh Prince,
the Family Man, the actor who only does
uplifting movies. And somewhere along
the way, the image became more real than
the person. He stopped being a human
being with flaws and became a product
that needed constant maintenance.
>> Your body needs to be depressed.
>> It needs deep rest from the character
that you've been trying to play. [music]
>> The tension between Jim Carrey and Will
Smith didn't start with the Oscars. It
goes back decades. In the mid 1990s,
Carrie was this wild, unpredictable guy
who had just exploded onto the scene
with Ace Ventura. That movie was
massive, like way bigger than anyone
expected. And right on its heels came
The Mask, which became an absolute
phenomenon. We're talking over $350
million worldwide. This was the era when
Carrie was everywhere, doing interviews,
making weird faces, being completely and
utterly himself. Now, here's where it
gets interesting. [music] Around that
same time, Will Smith was trying to
transition from music to movies. The
Fresh Prince was huge on TV, but he
hadn't really cracked movies yet. And
apparently when they were casting The
Mask, Smith was one of the actors being
considered for the role of Stanley
Ipkis. But here's what allegedly
happened next. Smith basically wasn't
too happy about losing that role to
Carrie. And this was happening at the
same time when Carrie was basically
becoming the biggest comedy star on the
planet while Smith was still trying to
figure out his movie career. You've got
to imagine that situation. [music] Smith
had been famous since he was a teenager
and suddenly there's this new guy
stealing the spotlight. Some people say
that Smith never forgave Carrie for that
moment. The role that Carrie got became
a massive hit and cemented his status as
a top tier movie star. Smith had to wait
a little longer for his breakthrough
with movies like Bad Boys and
Independence Day coming a couple of
years later. But those two, three years
of waiting, they created bitterness.
>> I I don't believe in icons. Uh I don't
believe in personalities. I believe that
peace lies beyond personality, beyond
invention and disguise, beyond the red S
that you wear on your chest that makes
bullets bounce off. I believe that it's
deeper than that. I believe we're a
field of energy dancing for itself.
And uh
I don't care.
>> The 2023 Golden Globes fiasco is even
more significant than people realized at
the time. The ceremony was hosted by
Jared Carmichael. And during the show,
he did this bit about Will Smith that
honestly made everyone in the room
uncomfortable. He presented [music]
Smith with this fake award called the
Rock Hudson Award for best portrayal of
masculinity on television.
>> While we were on commercial, uh, we
actually presented Will Smith with the
Rock Hudson Award for best portrayal of
masculinity on television. So, please
give it up to Will Smith, you guys.
Please, please. Now, if y'all don't
know, Rock Hudson was a closeted actor
from the old studio system era. He was
famous for playing these hyper masculine
leading men, but he was actually in real
life. So, Jared was basically comparing
Will to Hudson. And here's the thing, if
Will or Jada had gotten upset, [music]
it would have looked like they were
admitting the joke was true. So, they
just sat there and smiled while the
audience tried to figure out if they
should laugh. But that was just the
warm-up. The main event was Eddie
Murphy's speech.
Mind your business
>> This guy is a legend and he doesn't do
this stuff often. And when he took a jab
at Will, people went crazy. But here's
what I think people missed about that
moment. Murphy later clarified that the
line wasn't just a joke to him. He said
it worked because he was making a point
about Will Smith's toxic masculinity and
everyone who heard it understood exactly
what he was saying. [music]
>> I don't imagine that Eddie Murphy is
ever nervous about getting up there and
speaking his mind, but the the punch
line in particular tonight. H how did
you prepare? Were you ready for it? Do
you feel like it landed the way you
wanted it to?
>> I thought I thought it went fine. It
wasn't a punchline. It was just like the
end of the end of my little acceptance
speech. I thought it worked. That joke
worked, didn't it?
>> Yeah. didn't think so.
>> Got laughed.
>> They got laughed.
>> They got laughed.
>> After everything that happened, Will
Smith released a movie called
Emancipation, which turned out to be a
huge disaster. [music]
The box office was disappointing and the
awards attention was basically
non-existent. And that's a big deal
because for 30 years, Will [music] Smith
was the safe bet. Studios knew his
movies would make money. Audiences knew
they could expect a certain quality. But
after Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy
started speaking out, something changed.
How the play in a movie called
Emancipation and you can't emancipate yourself.
yourself.
>> Fans willingness to just blindly support
everything Smith does. It's gone. A
person commented saying, "Will likes
humiliating people in public and not
just Chris Rock, but his own son. Jada
slowly faded into the shadows after
humiliating Will with the entanglement,
and Jaden will eventually humiliate them
both with a tell- all book or
interview." Another one added, "When
these people think they can do anything
they want and don't have any real
morals, the truth comes to light. I hope
they all are made accountable. Now,
here's the thing. Will Smith is still
trying to get back in the good graces of
the industry's power players, and
they're still keeping him at arms
length. Not because they morally object
to what he did, but because supporting
him is now a major risk. [music] The $9
billion man, the guy who was too big to
fail, is discovering that there's a
limit to how much bad behavior the
industry will tolerate. Not because they
have principles, but because they have
bottom lines. And when supporting Will
Smith starts looking like bad business,
suddenly everyone's a lot more careful
about how they associate themselves with
him. Also, for the first time in 30
years, Will Smith has nowhere left to
hide. But what do you guys think about
this whole situation? Are we finally
witnessing Will Smith's real
personality? Drop your thoughts in the
comments and subscribe for more videos.
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
