Will Smith

Willard Carroll Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968), aka Will Smith, is an Academy Award nominated actor, multiple Grammy winning hip hop artist, and a former comedian from the United States. He is one of a small group of people who have enjoyed huge success in all the three major entertainment media in the United States: film, television, and the music industry.

Quotes

 * It's great to be Black in Hollywood. When a Black actor does something, it seems new and different just by virtue of the fact that he's Black.
 * "Will Smith" article in Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2001 edition), p. 406


 * I feel like I could run for President. People often laugh, but if I set my mind to it, within the next 15 years I could be in the White House.
 * "Will Smith" article in Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2001 edition), p. 406


 * Even Hitler didn't wake up going, "let me do the most evil thing I can do today." I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was "good." Stuff like that just needs reprogramming. … I wake up every day full of hope, positive that every day is going to be better than yesterday. And I'm looking to infect people with my positivity. I think I can start an epidemic.
 * As quoted in "Will Smith : My Work Ethic Will Make Me A Legend" by Siobhan Synnot in Daily Record (22 December 2007)
 * This was reported in various new stories as if Smith had declared that "Adolf Hitler was essentially a good person."
 * Smith responded to such misinterpretations in further statements:
 * It is an awful and disgusting lie. It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation. … Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous, vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet.
 * "Will Smith Explains Hitler Quote" by Karen Salkin in People (26 December 2007); Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League accepting Smith's clarifications stated: "If anything, this episode serves as a reminder of the power of words, and how words can be twisted by those with hate and bigotry in their hearts to suit their own world view."


 * The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill, right? I will run. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, right, there’s two things. You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple, right?
 * "Actor-musician Will Smith" transcript from interview on The Tavis Smiley Show (13 December 2007)


 * Aaaah. It's Rewind time. If I could controlled Rewind I would want Fortnite and Marques Brownlee.
 * "YouTube Rewind 2018" (6 December 2018)


 * Keep my wife's name out [of] your fucking mouth!
 * Shouted to Chris Rock during their altercation at the 94th Academy Awards (27 March 2022)


 * That was a horrific night, as you can imagine. You know, there’s many nuances and complexities to it, but at the end of the day, I just, I lost it, you know? And I guess what I would say, you just never know what somebody’s going through. In the audience right now, you are sitting next to strangers, and somebody’s mother died last week, somebody’s child is sick, somebody just lost their job, somebody just found out their spouse cheated. You just don’t know what is going on with people. And I was going through something that night. Not that that justifies my behavior at all.
 * Will Smith's interview on Trevor Noah's “The Daily Show” Monday. (28 November 2022)]