‘Hardest flex of 2023’: Will Smith surprises fans with ‘unexpected’ Oscars joke
Smith’s latest video has been met with mixed reactions on social media
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Will Smith has surprised fans with a new video shared from his TikTok account.
The actor has spent much of the last year dealing with the fallout from the 2022 Oscars, during which he slapped host Chris Rock for a misjudged joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Moments later, Smith won his first Academy Award.
After a social media break of several months, Smith has steadily returned to his habit of posting light-hearted videos.
On Monday (20 February), he posted a video that surprised his followers due to its cheeky candour.
The clip is framed by a prompt from the TikTok user @missmoneyworking, in which she describes an exercise where people ask inanimate objects what they think of them.
“You will get an answer in your mind from your intuition,” she explains, suggesting that those watching could ask a pen or their car its opinion, and then come to their own conclusion fron the impression the items give off.
In tandem with @missmoneyworking’s clip, Smith is shown reacting to her words. After a moment of pondering about an object he could ask for a read on himself, he reaches off-camera and brings his Oscar statuette into the frame.
As he begins to ask the Oscar a question, the clip ends.
Many fans deemed the clip to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fracas at last year’s Academy Awards, with the joke stemming from the variety of things that the Oscar could “say” to Smith – as well as a reminder of his achievement.
Since it was posted, fans have been enthusiastic in sharing their delight at the gag.
Actor Raven-Symoné replied with a grinning emoji, while another follower wrote: “This has got to be the hardest flex in 2023.”
“I wasn’t expecting this,” added another with a laughing face emoji.
Elsewhere, one Twitter user wrote that the clip was “the single funniest thing I've seen all month” to which someone else affirmed: “Well played, Smith.”
This year’s Oscars will be held on Sunday 12 March. You can find the full list of nominees here.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments