How Hollywood rewarded Will Smith for Oscars slap and made him its top-paid star with eye-watering payday for new show

IT looked like Will Smith’s career was in tatters after he caused uproar by slapping Oscars host Chris Rock on stage during the ceremony in March.

Yet just four months later it has been revealed that the actor has earned the year’s second highest pay cheque in Hollywood.

Industry bible Variety magazine has revealed that 53-year-old Will is being paid £30million for his role in the upcoming thriller Emancipation for streaming service Apple TV+.

In the latest list of the year’s biggest movie star salaries, he is just behind Tom Cruise, who struck a remarkable deal while making Top Gun: Maverick, which will bank him more than £100million.

The A-lister agreed to a lower fee in order to take home a significant chunk of profits from the sequel, which has paid off after it stormed the box office and made more than £1billion.

Margot Robbie has secured the biggest deal for a woman, although it is far less than many of the male actors on the list.

Hugely popular

She is earning £10.5million for her role in the upcoming Barbie movie, the same as her co-star Ryan Gosling, who will play her boyfriend Ken, according to Variety.

Despite Margot’s clean-cut career, her salary is almost a third of that which Will is on course to receive.

He shamed himself during the incident after Chris Rock, 57, made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, 50, and her alopecia.

Will at first appeared to laugh at the gag, then got up and slapped him before shouting: “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth.”

He went on to win the Best Actor award for the first time, following two prior nominations in the category, for his film King Richard.

But the furore around his conduct on the night resulted in him being banned from the ceremony for the next ten years, with the Academy calling his actions “unacceptable and harmful”.

Will apologised and said: “I was out of line and I was wrong.”

However, studios still believe he is a box office winner and are willing to fork out astronomical sums to get him on board.

A movie insider said: “Will has always been hugely popular and something like a Best Actor win always helps drive up the price which people in the industry can charge to star in a film.

“The majority of people in Hollywood would have struggled to come back from something like what happened with Chris Rock at the Oscars, but people are standing by Will.

“He is taking time out at the moment but studios are banking on it all blowing over and eventually making him an even bigger star.

“Streaming services are paying more than traditional studios to get the biggest names on board for their projects.

“Apple signed him up a while ago now and they shot Emancipation last year but they believe he is such a pull for viewers that they will still pay him and release the film.

“It was delayed until 2023 after the incident but it will be out then, once Will has had time to work on himself more.”

Emancipation, which was shot in Louisiana, will see the actor playing a slave who fled a plantation after he was almost killed by being whipped.

It is based on a true story of a man named Peter who then had to battle on a torturous journey before joining the Union Army.

Will has been taking time out of the spotlight for the last four months after being urged to get help.

In April he travelled to India “for spiritual purposes, to practice yoga and meditation.”

Comedian Kevin Hart, 43, has insisted Will is “apologetic” over the events and believes he will be able to reconcile with Chris Rock.

He said: “Will is apologetic, you know, he’s in a better space, of course, than what he was after.

“People are human and as humans sometimes we make mistakes. So it’s not about talking about the past, it’s about acknowledging the present and doing your best to move forward.

On hold

“I can only hope that the two of them find a way to find some solace in that and move past it . . . I still love him, I still love Chris, and, you know, you can’t judge a person by one thing. Ultimately, life goes on and people grow, so give him the opportunity to do so.”

He will have to promote Emancipation when it is released in 2023, as part of the agreement for which he was paid.

Several other projects were pushed back or cancelled earlier this year.

In April, Netflix cancelled the development of a sequel to Will’s 2017 film Bright and the streaming service also put his action thriller Fast And Loose on hold.

The same month saw the production of Will’s docuseries Pole To Pole, which would see him travel from the South Pole to the North Pole, suspended.

It had been due to be filmed in the spring but has been delayed until the autumn.

However, Will has already boarded Bad Boys 4, with his co-star Martin Lawrence, 57, saying earlier this month: “We got one more at least.”