NARRATOR: Coming to you from New York City,
the only city in America.
It's The Daily Show.
Tonight-- controversy at the World Cup, Trump's
dinner party, and Will Smith.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
[applause, cheering]
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to The Daily Show.
I'm Trevor Noah.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for coming on in person!
Good to see you, everybody!
Welcome back!
We're back! We're back!
Take a seat.
We have got a jampacked show for you tonight.
The Daily Show is going to the World Cup.
If you have monkeypox, you're racist,
and Donald Trump somehow has beef with Kanye West.
Plus, the one and only Will Smith
is joining us on today's show.
That's going to be a ton of fun.
So let's do this, people.
Let's jump straight into today's headlines.
[applause, cheering]
All right.
Before we get into the big stories,
let's catch up on a few other things going on in the world,
starting with monkeypox.
This morning, the World Health Organization
announced that because of concerns
that the word, monkeypox, is racist and stigmatizing,
the disease will officially be renamed Mpox.
Now, I don't know who this is for.
This sounds like they were trying
so hard not to be racist, that they ended up being racist.
Some guy was like, we can't use "monkey."
That immediately makes me think of, you know.
Right? Come on.
We're all thinking it, right?
Am I the only one?
Because here's the thing.
If you're really trying to get rid of the stigma,
just give it a completely different name.
Right?
Because you realize you're just abbreviating the word that you
don't want people to think about, which works,
until someone says, what does the M stand for?
Ah!
In international news, a French court has officially ruled
that companies cannot require employees to have fun at work,
after one man was fired for refusing to participate
in office parties.
Yeah.
And I'll tell you now.
I am with this guy. Yeah.
If you ask me, companies require way
too much of their employees.
You're making them go to office parties, team buildings.
You're forcing them to wash their hands
after going to the bathroom.
It's too much!
You've got to pick one.
Oh, in some news out of the Pentagon,
the US Defense department just failed a government audit,
with officials saying that they are
unable to account for more than 60%
of the military's $3.5 trillion in assets.
Yeah.
They just don't know where it is.
And I don't even know how it's possible to lose
track of that much money.
Like, what, are they waterboarding
people with Cristal?
What are they doing there?
And honestly, the Pentagon deserves
to be punished for this.
Unfortunately, they happen to have
all the missiles, so we'll let it slide this time, Pentagon!
Oh, but next time!
All right.
Let's move on to some of the biggest stories of the day,
starting with China, America's loan shark.
Ever since the coronavirus originated
in one of China's major cities, Xi Jinping's government
has been doing everything it can to clamp down on COVID 19.
But after three years of some of the strictest lockdowns
in the world, it looks like the Chinese people
have officially had enough.
REPORTER: Protests are spreading across that country.
Thousands are taking to the streets, some
even calling for China's president to step down--
all of this, amid rising frustration
over the government's zero COVID strategy.
REPORTER: Crowds swelled in defiance, spilling
over to the heart of Beijing.
REPORTER: Chanting for freedom from the grip
of a COVID policy that protesters
say has worn on too long.
They're calling for the end of lockdowns, the end of testing,
all of the zero-COVID measures that have rural daily
life here.
Yeah, that's right.
People in China are taking to the streets
to protest the government's draconian COVID policies,
which is a big deal, because remember, China is not one
of those chill countries, where you just talk trash
about the government, or storm the Capitol,
or plot to kidnap a governor.
No, no, no.
No.
Protesting in China is a big deal.
It's like growing up in an African family
and trying to tell your parents that you don't think
Noah's Ark is real, you know?
Like, I'm just saying, Mom!
Think about it!
How can they fit all those animals on one boat?
She'd be like, the same way I'm going to fit all this foot
on your backside, eh?
Are you saying the Bible is not real?
Are you saying the Bible--
Jesus, help this child now.
Now, there are many reasons why China has been so
hardcore with its lockdowns.
Less than 1/2 of the elderly population is vaccinated,
the Chinese vaccine isn't particularly effective,
and the Communist government has refused
to bring in outside vaccines, obviously because they think
it will make them look bad.
It's the same reason I was reluctant to bring
a dildo into my relationship.
Yeah.
No, I don't mind that you use it, but the fact
that you cuddle with it afterwards--
that's what hurts me, Candace!
That's what hurts me!
[applause, cheering]
And almost three years into this pandemic,
it is still crazy to see the range of responses
from different countries around the world, right?
China shuts down an entire city if one person coughs.
Meanwhile, Americans are like, hey, guys, I tested positive
for COVID, so I'm just going to play
the first few rounds of Spin the Bottle tonight, OK?
Let's be responsible.
Ahhhh.
But let's move on.
From a dictatorship to someone who wishes
they could start their own--
Donald, "you're making me crazy" Trump.
Ever since Donald Trump announced that he would be
running for election in 2024, many have been wondering,
will this finally be the moment when he becomes presidential?
Well, judging by his recent dinner party with Kanye West,
the computer says, no.
Former President Donald Trump is facing fierce criticism
tonight, even from his own allies,
for having dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate with
controversial musician Kanye West and white
supremacist Nick Fuentes.
REPORTER: If you're not familiar,
Fuentes is this high-profile figure on the far right,
a Holocaust denier, but he's best
known for running the America First organization, which,
according to the ADL, quote, "seeks
to forge a white nationalist alternative
to the mainstream GOP."
Even for Donald Trump, this was outrageous.
OK, first of all--
first of all, this whole story sounds like the setup to one
of those jokes that your uncle tells you at dinner, you know?
Like, OK, so a racist billionaire
and anti-Semitic rapper and a white supremacist
walk into a bar.
And then, what happens?
Hold on, the Black waiter is coming.
A Diet Coke, please.
Thank you.
[applause, cheering]
Secondly, why do journalists still
act surprised when Donald Trump does Donald Trump stuff?
Even for Donald Trump, this is-- what do you
mean, even for Donald Trump?
It's Donald Trump doing Donald Trump.
Trump having dinner with Nazis is not outrageous.
If he had dinner with vegetables,
that would be outrageous. That would be crazy.
What?
Yeah, and he was spelling words.
What?
But because of this dinner, Trump has taken a lot of flak
from all sides.
And so in classic Trump style, he
sends out a few posts about why, as per usual,
he isn't to blame for anything that he did.
REPORTER: But Mr. Trump tried distancing himself, posting
on social media that "West called me to have dinner,"
"expressed no anti-Semitism," and claimed,
"I didn't know Nick Fuentes."
Yeah. Yeah.
In Trump's defense, I mean, how would he
know that the guy Kanye rolls with could
be a white supremacist?
I mean, I get what he's saying.
He's like, I just wanted to have
dinner with this anti-Semite.
I didn't know he was going to bring a friend!
Because I love how Trump tries to immunize
himself by saying Kanye "expressed no anti-Semitism"
at the dinner.
And then, what?
I'm also sure he didn't rap at the dinner,
but you still know that he's a rapper.
Now, you might be wondering, if Kanye didn't want
to talk anti-Semitism at the dinner table, what
did he want to talk about?
Well, apparently, he was trying to convince
Trump to not run for president, but not in the way you think.
REPORTER: The dinner was not completely amiable.
Trump became angry when West asked the 2024
presidential candidate to serve as running
mate for West's own newly-announced
presidential bid.
REPORTER: Ye posting this video to Twitter, titled,
"Mar-a-Lago Debrief," explaining he asked
if Trump would be his vice-presidential
running mate at the dinner.
KANYE WEST: I think the thing that Trump
was most perturbed about--
me asking him to be my vice president.
But then, he goes on to say that Kim is a [bleep]..
You could tell her I said that.
And I was thinking, like, that's the mother
of my children.
Trump started, basically, screaming at me at the table,
telling me I was going to lose.
I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history?
[laughter]
"You're going to lose."
I'm like, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on, Trump.
You're talking to Ye.
[laughter]
OK.
First of all, Kanye--
whoever made his video-- they bleeped him when he said
the thing that Trump said.
And I'm going, you have people that bleep you.
Why don't you use them more?
You should be like, here's what I think about the-- boooop.
Boooop, boooop, boooop.
And also, the fact that Trump got so mad at Kanye
just shows you, like, where his priorities are.
He has no problem hosting a guy who
wants to go DEFCON 3 on the Jews or the Holocaust denier
that he brought to dinner with him, who he got along with.
But if you ever suggest he should
be number two on someone's ticket,
Trump would be like, you disgust me, sir!
Talk like that, there's no place in America.
We don't talk like that in this country.
And I get where Trump is coming from.
Kanye is asking Trump to be his Mike Pence,
and Trump is probably like, ew, I could never be Mike Pence.
I have sex with my eyes open.
All right. That's it for the headlines.
But before we go to a quick break,
let's check in on the stock market
with our finance expert, Michael Kosta, everybody!
[applause, cheering]
Michael, good to see you, man.
Good to see you.
What on earth is happening in the market today, man?
I'm crushing it, Trevor.
I am crushing it, and I got a hot tip for you.
I got a hot tip for you.
So pay attention, OK?
Now, today, the Dow was down big.
All right?
But I don't care, all right?
Because today is Cyber Monday, right?
Not to be confused with Black Friday, or Small Business
Saturday, or Giving Tuesday.
It's not Thirsty Thursdays or Taco Tuesdays
or Sunday, Bloody Sunday.
It's Cyber Monday, the day George
Washington declared 30% off of all plasma-screen TVs,
all right?
So the way I'm crushing it today, Trevor, is by spending.
All right?
Experts like me know you got to spend money to make money,
which is why today, I am making boatloads of money, all right?
Now, let me show you what I'm buying.
First thing in my cart-- a "Stocks for Dummies" book.
Look, I don't know shit about stocks, all right?
Yeah, I crush it, and I make tons of money,
but I don't understand any of it.
So as soon as I learn to read, this book
is going to be super helpful.
Now, speaking of helpful, the next thing in my cart--
seven breast pumps.
Now, look.
Little known fact-- they can pump anything, OK?
You got a flooded basement?
You need to put air in your bicycle
tires, muscle definition--
OK?
How do you think I got these fat baby twins, all right?
By borrowing my sister's breast pump.
All right?
And now, I'm going to have seven of my own.
Next item in my cart--
a picture frame.
Look, I don't need a picture frame.
But this is a family that I want to be a part of.
Look at that.
Innocent, pure, together--
I bet this family doesn't think my mashed potatoes are
too salty.
You ever think about that?
My family?
Ugly.
OK, next one.
I always wanted to get a guitar,
so I put a guitar in my cart.
And I was going to get a real guitar,
but I got this Fisher Price one,
cheap, no strings attached.
Also, no strings attached, so very easy to learn to play.
Now, somber note-- on my next item in my cart,
it's an adult casket, OK?
Now, look, I'm not planning on dying anytime soon,
but I ate a bad egg sandwich on a WestJet flight,
coming back from my ugly family's Thanksgiving,
and I was contemplating my own death.
And during that time, I thought,
holy shit, I haven't planned for my funeral!
So I got a good deal.
Also, caskets-- great place for storage
while you're still alive-- paper towels, kids toys.
New Yorkers, you get it.
Smaller caskets, plus bonus-- when my wife says,
go sleep on the couch, I say, OK, no problem.
But secretly, I sleep in the casket.
Joke's on her.
And with the extra storage space, I got plenty of room
for my last item-- seven more breast pumps, just in case
my first seven break.
That's why I'm the expert. All right.
I promised you a hot tip, remember?
All right?
Hot tip-- stop watching this right now,
and start online shopping.
You can't buy any of this any other day.
Back to you, Trevor.
Let's go.
Michael Kosta, everybody.
Don't stop watching this. Keep watching this.
You can buy the things whenever you want.
All right, when we come back, we're going
to catch up on the World Cup.
Plus, Will Smith is going to be joining us on the show,
so don't go away.
[applause, cheering]
[cheering]
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
Let's take a moment to talk about the World Cup.
It's the world's biggest soccer tournament, when every four
years the best players from the best countries
gather to compete until one team is declared champion
of the world, or until someone kicks
the ball through the neighbor's window, and we all run home.
Now, because I'm from the world, I love the World Cup.
So let's catch up on everything happening in Qatar
with a new installment of our World Cup coverage.
[music playing]
[cheering]
The 2022 World Cup is being hosted by Qatar,
a Middle Eastern country with a deep and rich
history of having oil.
And if you've been following the news, you know
that there's been some controversies over Qatar
hosting the World Cup, like, did Qatar offer
bribes to FIFA to be the host?
Did Qatar exploit migrant workers
to build the soccer stadiums?
Are we pronouncing Qatar right?
Is it Qatar or is it "Cutter" or is it "Cut-her"?
And if we mumble it, do you think they'll notice?
All of these are questions.
But one of the biggest controversies that Qatar has
has been the fact that they have
very strict laws prohibiting same-sex relationships.
And these anti-gay policies are causing
some tension on the pitch.
REPORTER: Amid the cheers of World Cup fans,
controversy is simmering.
It's over the host country Qatar and other nations'
treatment of LGBTQ people.
REPORTER: Rainbow imagery, a sudden flashpoint after FIFA
demanded the captains of seven European teams
not wear this armband in support of LGBTQ causes,
insisting the captains wear FIFA-sanctioned bands.
REPORTER: The team captains of several countries
say they will not be wearing the rainbow-colored 1 Love
armbands as they had intended after FIFA
threatened to give players yellow cards just
for doing so.
After receiving two yellow cards, of course,
a player will face a one-match suspension.
Yeah, that's right.
The captains of seven European teams
planned to show their support of the LGBTQ community
by wearing rainbow armbands.
But then, when FIFA threatened them with yellow cards,
they scrapped the idea, which, in my opinion,
shows that you're not the ally you claim to be, right?
You're just like, hey, I support your right
to live free from persecution unless I get a warning
in a game where I kick a ball. Then I'm out.
You gays are on your own.
I'm just saying, that's a yellow card.
I mean-- [laughs]
[applause]
It's like a yellow card.
It's not even like you're out.
Just a warning, and you're like, yeah,
no, [laughs] no, I can't.
I tried.
And, by the way, the rainbow ban has got to be
hard for the referees too.
That's risky.
Because the referees are out there,
and they're like, yellow card!
Red card!
Oh, wait, we just started a rainbow.
No!
Don't take me away!
Oh, a little crazy story as well,
if you happen to be in China watching the World Cup,
you probably are missing some things.
Because on the government TV network,
you'll barely see any footage of the fans at all.
Yeah, because China doesn't want its citizens
to see people from every other country enjoying themselves
without wearing masks.
Yeah, because they're like-- they just don't want them
to know that that's possible.
You know?
And, I mean, it sounds crazy, but it's the same way
Canadian TV censors their footage so it'll never
show fans behaving rudely.
Because then Canadians will be like,
wait, other people are telling others to [bleep] off?
We didn't know we could do that.
Hey!
But maybe my favorite part of the World Cup
is seeing how people from different parts of the world
find ways to yell at each other.
Because, remember, a lot of the teams
have coaches who are not from their country.
You know, like, for instance, Saudi Arabia's coach
is actually French.
He doesn't speak Arabic.
But the Saudi translator doesn't speak French.
So when the coach got mad at the team's performance
in the first half, he had to yell at them in English
so that the translator could yell at them in Arabic.
TRANSLATOR: [speaking arabic]
[laughter]
Oh, wow.
[applause]
Oh.
You see, this is the magic of the World Cup, people,
a French man yelling in English to a group of Saudis
about a British sport.
It's beautiful.
I also wonder if the translator is
augmenting the message so he doesn't lose any friends.
He's just like, you are terrible!
You all suck!
You should be ashamed of yourself-- is what he said.
[laughter]
Because you know me, Mahmoud. I love you guys, eh?
I thought you were great in the first half.
I thought you guys were great.
Now, so far, this World Cup has had a lot of great moments.
You know, Saudi Arabia pulled off a huge upset
over powerhouse Argentina.
Mexico had a heroic penalty save against Poland.
Wales proved to the whole world that they
are a different country than England.
And one of the most exciting moments
was when Japan defeated Germany in an incredible match.
But my favorite part of that game
was what the Japanese fans did after it.
REPORTER: When Japan beat Germany,
fans were ecstatic, right?
But instead of leaving after the match to celebrate,
hundreds of Japanese fans stayed in the stadium
and picked up the trash that other fans left behind.
Pictures on social media show the Japanese fans threading
their way through the seats, making sure the stadium
was tidy before leaving.
Some online comments calling them
the best guests in the world.
Wow, that is amazing.
Unfortunately, all of those Japanese fans
were arrested because the Qatari
police deemed the act of tidying up,
quote, "kind of gay."
[laughter]
Now I'm not going to lie.
This is one of the most amazing things to see.
And you see it at every World Cup.
It'll be Japan. It'll be South Korea.
And I think it's a valuable lesson to all of us.
If you are throwing a party, make sure you invite
Japanese fans to your house.
Because then you don't have to clean up.
And if you ask me, though, this is a huge flex
from the Japanese fans.
Everyone's like, oh, it's so humble.
No, it's a flex.
What is a more baller move than beating somebody, and then
cleaning up after them?
Yeah.
Like, here, oh, let me take out your trash.
Oh.
Oh, did you drop this?
Did you drop this? Oh, yeah.
No, no, no. We'll clean up.
You guys can go and figure out how to play soccer.
Yeah, we'll just do that.
All right, we're going to take a quick break.
But stay tuned because when we come back,
the one and only Will Smith will be joining
me right here on the show.
Don't go away.
[cheering]
[applause]
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is an Academy Award-winning actor and Grammy
award-winning rapper.
He's going to talk about his new film, Emancipation,
which will be in select theaters
this Friday and streaming on Apple TV+ December 9.
I heard it myself.
Slaves are free.
Free?
Says who?
Lincoln.
We must get to Baton Rouge.
Lincoln's army is there.
It's true.
I heard it also.
So where is Baton Rouge?
Five days from the swamp.
There are many ways to die in a swamp.
There are many ways to die here.
Please welcome Will Smith.
[applause]
[inaudible]
Thank you.
How we doing?
Oh.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Oh, man.
Mr. Will Smith.
Welcome back to The Daily Show. - Kind sir.
How are you?
I am so good.
I flew 30 hours to be here with you.
- Where were you? - Yes.
Where were you?
In Bhutan.
What are you doing there?
Bhutan, The Nat Geo show.
So you're traveling around the world.
Traveling around the world.
Just like--
Finding the secrets of life.
And are you finding them?
No, not yet, not yet.
Yeah, because we've seen you everywhere.
I mean, you've been everywhere in the world.
You say Bhutan, you travel the Middle East and Africa.
And where are you going next, South Pole?
- South Pole, yes. - That's a real thing.
- Yes. - But why?
Why?
Yeah.
Like, what are you hoping to discover there?
That Black people don't like the cold?
What do you, doing?
Like, what do you, why are you there, Will?
No, so the show is, I don't know
if I'm supposed to be announcing it yet,
but the show is called Pole to Pole.
OK.
So we're going from the South Pole to the North Pole
and all the stops along the way.
And we are, it's called Other People's Wisdom.
So we're seeking the wisdom.
There are people who live at the South Pole,
they're researchers.
So we're going there, we're going to talk to them.
Right. All the scientists.
Basically they say like the world's knowledge is stored
at the South Pole essentially.
- Yes, absolutely. - Right.
You got me crying, you're making me cry already.
When we're talking about the South Pole?
Yeah, we're talking about, just,
the South Pole is just such a.
[laughs]
When I think about all that cold.
I'm surprised you're awake, man, thank you.
The guy who discovered the South
Pole is named Will Smith.
For real?
Yeah, that's true.
You said that so I don't even know
if you're lying right now.
You said, you said that's so convincingly.
I know, no, it's true, it's true.
You'll be, somebody can Google it, somebody can Google it.
OK, all right, I'll just believe you.
So you're traveling around the world.
Yeah.
Emancipation.
I just, I just watched it.
It is a, I mean, it's so hard to describe movies like this,
because people see it in the clip,
but you play one of the most famous
unknown people, surprisingly, and you know what I mean.
Absolutely.
From America's history.
A man whose picture went around the world that basically
showed many people who didn't know
innately how brutal slavery was.
Let's talk about this first of all.
Emancipation is not the kind of film
we would expect to see you in immediately as Will Smith.
Yeah, yeah.
So why this project?
Why get into the story?
And why this story in particular?
When I read this script, man, it's like, you've
probably seen the image.
It's of a Black man and it's his back and his arm
and he's sitting.
So it's a pretty famous picture.
I think we have that image here.
Yeah.
I think it's one of the famous ones, yes.
Right.
Yeah, so it's that image.
And first, seeing that image was one of the things that
really got me excited to explore this,
because you see the image, but you don't know who he is, you
don't know what the story is.
And then as I started to do the research,
and it's American slavery was one of the most brutal aspects
of human history. - Right.
You know.
It was something that was so incomprehensible, you know.
It was just so, it's hard to understand
the level of human cruelty.
And the screenplay was spectacular.
Uh-huh.
And Antoine Fuqua just, he did his thing on this, man.
And you know--
It's gripping the whole way through,
I'll tell you that much.
It's scary.
It is gripping.
It is not glamorizing.
Because it is the story of how the Union is moving
and people start hearing whispers of Lincoln
has declared that slavery is abolished.
He's freed the slaves.
Yes.
But then you see how many people haven't received
that news and you see how that news doesn't change
everybody's lives overnight.
Yeah.
So the Emancipation was January 1.
Right.
And slaves weren't free until June 19.
Right.
So the period of the Emancipation--
'65, right?
1865 I think, yeah.
1865, yeah.
So January 1, slaves were free, but the South refused to allow
the slaves to be free.
So the enslaved people started trying to run
to get to Lincoln's army.
And in Baton Rouge is where Lincoln's army was
from this place in Louisiana.
So it's about that period where the slaves were free,
but they weren't being freed.
So it is a beautiful, beautiful movie.
You know, my daughter asked me, she's like, Daddy,
do we really need another slave movie,
when I was thinking about it.
And I was like, I said, baby, I promise you
I wouldn't make a slave movie.
This is a freedom movie, you know.
- Oh, wow. - You know.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, you know.
Wow.
Yeah.
It is interesting that you say that.
Yeah.
It is interesting that you say that, because the story,
one of my favorite lines in the movie
is when I think it's one of the,
he's leading one of the battalions
and he talks to your character, right, he's
like a general commando, and he says to your character,
he says, I was born free.
And he says we're allowed to own houses,
we're allowed to do this-- - We're allowed, yeah, yeah.
--we're allowed.
And your character says to him.
If someone must allow you to do it, are you really free.
Right.
You know.
And this film, what's really interesting about it
is, it centers on faith and the power of faith
to be able to endure anything.
And this character is just, what he had to endure
and what he had to survive, only God could make a man when
you look at those marks on his back,
only God could make that possible, you know.
He talks about a period, in doing the research,
he talks about he was whipped into a coma.
And he was in a coma for three months.
And he said that he met God while he was in the coma.
And when he came out, he believed in a way
that he had never believed before.
Wow.
And I learned the difference between faith and
revelation, right?
Right.
So faith is one thing, when you have to have faith.
I'm not crying, dude, my eyes, you know, I just got tired.
I got airplane eyes, I got airplane eyes.
You've been on a plane for 30 hours.
Yeah, I got airplane eyes, you know.
But the difference between faith and revelation
that he walked in the world with a knowledge
of the divine, with a knowledge of God that
was just something I desperately wanted
to understand and explore.
Yeah, I mean, you watch the film,
you wonder, you know it's one of those movies where you
watch it and you go, this is harrowing, this is gripping,
this is, it's wild.
It seems unbelievable.
And then you see the images of the real person and your mind
cannot comprehend that it was possible
for this to happen to a human being
and that they actually exist.
It's a story that goes beyond everything.
And I'd love to know, like in the telling
of the story beyond faith, beyond revelation,
what is the biggest thing you took away from it?
Because it's interesting, you know, I get
what your daughter was saying.
Do we need another slave movie?
Yeah.
And I understand what you're saying about it
being a freedom movie.
But I feel like each story has a different message.
Yes.
Because it's a movement. It's a revolution.
- Absolutely. - It's a quest for freedom.
What do you think was the biggest lesson
you took away from the story?
You know, I think that as an actor, any time
you go into these characters and you
go this deep into these roles, it
changes something about you.
You understand something that you didn't understand before.
And I guess the major thing that
came through for me with Peter is the power
of the direction of love.
So this is, he's trying to get back to his family.
And that comprehension of love and how love actually
is a superpower.
When you can fill your heart with that kind of love,
it's a propulsion that is unlike any other thing.
It's stronger than fear, it's stronger than hate,
it's stronger than tired.
It's like, when you can really latch into and fill your heart
with love in a way, it really is shield and armor
unlike anything that exists.
That's beautiful.
It really is. Congrats again.
Yeah.
You know, congrats on the movie, great seeing you again.
It's been a while since I last, so it's been a while
since many people have seen you, you know.
Yeah.
I've been away.
What y'all been doing?
Thank you, baby.
It's, yeah, it's been, I can only imagine
what it's been like for you.
Because it has been weird for many of us.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're Will Smith.
Yeah.
No, you are, you know, you're Will Smith.
Yeah.
You are you are one of the biggest movie stars that
has ever existed, one of my favorite people
that I've ever seen inhabit a screen.
Thank you, man.
You know, and then you had the Oscars.
Yeah.
Where in one night, you--
I have no independent recollection of the--
I can only imagine, because you won,
you won your first Oscar that night.
Well deserved Oscar that night.
But it is simultaneously in many ways, not the worst,
I won't say the worse, because I know the life you've lived,
I've read the book.
But it is one of the best days of your life
and one of the worst days of your life.
And I would I'd love to know, I mean, just us talking.
First of all, what has the journey
been like since that day?
Like, because we, everyone speculates,
everyone just see it and goes, I think this, I think this,
I think that.
What has it been like for you?
Yeah, that was a horrific night, as you can imagine.
There's many nuances and complexities to it, you know.
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're sitting
next to strangers, you know.
And somebody's mother died last week, you know.
Somebody's child is sick, you know.
Somebody just lost their job.
Somebody just found out their spouse cheated, you know.
It's like there's all these things and there's strangers
and you just don't know what's going on with people.
And I was going through something that night,
you know.
Not that justifies my behavior at all.
I would just say, you're asking what
did I learn, and it's that we just
got to be nice to each other, man, you know.
It's like, it's hard.
And I guess the thing that was most painful for me
is I took my heart and made it hard for other people,
you know.
And it's like I understood the idea where they
say hurt people hurt people. - Yeah, yeah.
You know?
And it's like--
You know, it's interesting.
I remember, again, everybody is speculating.
And one of my friends called me and we're talking,
we're talking, everyone's got these opinions,
and then someone said, I feel like we saw the real Will
Smith in that moment.
Because this is a guy who's so full of love and so positive,
but I feel like in that moment we saw the real Will Smith.
And I said, and not because I know you,
but I said honestly, I said no, if anything,
I feel like it was the opposite.
Like, you talk in your book about growing up so afraid
of conflict.
You grow up in your book talking
about how you were always afraid to fight with,
how you were afraid to.
For me it felt like in watching that moment,
I felt like you were like, is, it's like in a way
it was like you stood up for the wrong thing
at the wrong time in a way.
- Yeah, yeah. - You know what I'm saying?
It felt like you're taking everything.
Because here we are, human to human, man to man.
But like people have said some shitty things
about you and your family. - Absolutely.
You know. You're a human being.
It felt like, and I would say this,
because like it is it's becoming
relentlessly shitty now.
And people think it's OK. - Yes.
That's the thing. People think it's OK.
And not Chris, by the way.
I'm talking about people, the internet, et cetera.
But it felt like this was Will Smith
for the first time going, OK, is this how
you want me to respond or not.
Yeah, no, it was a lot of things.
It was the little boy that watched his father
beat up his mother, you know.
All of that just bubbled up in that moment.
You know, I just, that's not who I want to be.
Right.
You've known me for a long time,
so you know me personally, so you know.
But you know, y'all might not know.
It's like, that's not who I want to be, man.
I'm trying to, I'm trying to--
But I also think that's not who you are.
I'll be honest with you.
I think it's not who you are.
I think everybody can make a mistake.
And I think, I think in my honest opinion,
I think how I think of living my life, as I say.
Now I'm crying for real, OK?
No, no, no.
No, but I mean, but I mean, I mean this honestly.
I'll tell you why.
But I'll tell you why.
I'll tell you why.
Because so on my side as a human being, I go,
the reason it was shocking is because that's
not who you are. - Yeah.
- Does that make sense? - Exactly.
Like I saw, for instance, there
was an article that was written,
I think it was a Hollywood Reporter
or whatever, they had a list of like problematic actors
or whatever.
I was personally offended for you and Leticia, funny enough,
for different reasons.
But they had guys in a list where I was like, wait,
some of these people are here for sleeping
with under-age kids.
These people are here for abusing their spouses.
And again, what you did was [bleep] up.
I always tell you that.
I love Chris, I'm friends with him.
I love you, I'm friends, but I was like, this is [bleep] up.
But I was like, but it's not the same world.
And that's why it was weird, especially I find,
because there were all these dynamics.
So I know that as Black people, Black people will be together
and be like, what was Will doing,
what the hell happened here, right?
But then I know a lot of Black people were like,
people came out and they were like, he should go to jail.
We were like, you need to relax yourself.
It was a weird, like some people were overreacting,
which made some people under-react.
Yeah, yeah.
You know?
No, it's the, I understand how shocking
that was for people, man.
Right.
On that stage.
You seemed a little dazed afterwards,
I'm not going to lie.
Yeah, I was gone, dude, I was gone, I was gone.
I was, that was a rage that had been bottled
for a really long time.
Right.
And, you know, but it's, I understand the pain, you know.
It was like my little nephew, Dom is nine.
And he is the sweetest little boy.
He's like, we came home and it's
like he had stayed up late to see his Uncle Will, you know.
And we're sitting in my kitchen and he's on my lap
and he's holding the Oscar.
And he's just like, why did you hit that man, Uncle Will,
you know.
Damn it!
Why are you trying to Oprah me?
No, I'm not.
[laughs]
[applause]
Yeah, and he's carrying, he's sitting on your lap.
Yeah, you know, so yeah, it was, I was like--
[growls] it was a mess, you know?
I don't want to go too far into it to give
people more to misunderstand.
Is it hard?
You have lived, I realized this morning
when I was thinking about you coming on the show,
you are one of the rare breed of human
who has lived more of your life in the spotlight
than out of it.
Yeah.
You got into this industry as a kid.
You grew up and blew up into it as a young man.
Yeah.
You had your tax issues, you had your life,
you had your family, you had, but you
have lived in this world for, so it's funny again.
I realized chatting to friends and I was like,
you know what's interesting here is,
for us, this is the Oscars.
Yeah, yeah.
For Will Smith, this is like a cookout.
Right.
[laughs]
And I'm not diminishing the Oscars,
but I'm like, those are your people, that's your world.
This is like, you know, and I was
like, I was saying I think that is part
of the reason many of us with that
show, because like it's this lauded event,
it's bigger than life, whereas many movie stars are
at the Oscars like, oh, nice to see you again,
hey, good to be here, good to be back.
And I feel like that was part of the disconnect.
I feel like that was part of it.
But the one thing that's killing me, you know,
so Emancipation is Antoine's masterpiece.
That's what I want to ask you about.
He has created an absolute masterpiece.
Bob Richardson, the DP, and Ben Foster and just all the way
down, it's like these top artists in the world
have done some of the best work of their career.
Yeah.
And the idea that they might be denied because of me
is like, oh!
It's like, that is killing me dead, you know.
And it's like the thing that is so critical for me is
that these people came and they trusted me and they were down
for me, and you know, I just, I hope that their work will be
honored and their work will not be
tainted based on a horrific decision on my part.
I honestly hope, and I don't think that that'll happen.
I have conversations with people all the time about--
Really?
--Restorative justice.
You have conversations with people?
About restorative justice, about like atonement,
about, we have all these conversations.
We have them at the highest levels often.
And what I realize is, we often don't have these conversations
as they pertain to daily life.
Yeah.
You know, what somebody says, what somebody does.
And especially in isolation.
That's why I say the sum of a person
is oftentimes how I define them as opposed to a moment.
And on a personal level, I think I speak for many people.
If I don't, forgive me, but obviously
people were hurt, because we love
you and we love what you do.
People were shocked, because it's Will Smith,
it's Chris Rock, you know.
So Oscars, all these things.
But I also think I speak for people when I say like, I
don't want that to define you.
I don't think it should define you, you know what I mean?
Yeah. Thank you, thank you.
I don't think--
Yeah, yeah.
I don't think any one of us, I don't think
any one of us in life deserves to be
defined by our [bleep] up.
Like the [bleep] up.
If anything, I mean, like you and Chris have the biggest
story to handle on your own.
It's not our foray.
But yeah, man, I hope you don't stay hidden forever.
No, no, not at all.
I hope you know that you don't
always have to bottle it up.
I hope you know that you not being perfect is
what'll make you perfect. You're Will Smith, man.
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
You're that dude.
We love you, for real.
I think--
You're that dude, you know?
I think that was one of the big things for me
over this last couple of months, you know.
That I had to forgive myself for being human, you know.
And it's like, trust me, there's
nobody that hates the fact that I'm human more than me.
Yeah, I know that.
But I know that.
You know?
And just finding that space for myself within myself
to be human, you know.
Right.
It's like, I want, I've always wanted to be Superman.
I've always wanted to swoop in and save the damsel
in distress, you know.
And I had to humble down, you know, and realize that I'm
a flawed human and I still have an opportunity
to go out in the world and contribute
in a way that fills my heart, and hopefully
helps other people.
[applause]
I appreciate it.
Appreciate you, man.
Thank you, man.
[inaudible]
Good to talk to you.
Thank you, thank you.
We'll take a break, we'll be right back.
No, man, for real.
[cheering]
Well, that's our show for tonight.
But before we go, before we go, I
just want to remind you tomorrow is Giving Tuesday.
So please consider donating to One Simple Wish, a charity
that grants wishes to kids and young adults in foster care.
If you wanna help grant a wish or donate
towards their holiday wish fund,
then please do so at the link below.
Until next time, stay safe out there.
And remember, it's not called monkeypox anymore.
[laughter]
Now we just say the M word.
Now, here it is, your moment of zen.
[cheering]
OK, from football to fútbol.
We've got football and fútbol going on.
Football to fútbol.
Fútbol and football.
This isn't football.
This is fútbol.
Football to fútbol.
See what I did there?
[music playing]