Apparently, actor Will Smith has a flatulence problem that is so bad his farts will slap you in the face. (I should have apologized in advance for making that inevitable joke. Please do not unsubscribe.)
According to Variety, Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld made a recent appearance on the Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa podcast, where he recalled an incident that happened during the filming of the 1997 action comedy staring Smith and renowned actor Tommy Lee Jones in which the former let one rip that smelled so bad and was so strong the entire set had to be evacuated “for about three hours.”
From Variety:
According to Sonnenfeld, the incident occurred during the scene in which Smith and Jones are in a transforming car that travels at hyper speeds and flips over. In order to film the sequence, the two actors had to be “hermetically sealed” in the pod that was being used for the car.
“There are locks to prevent it from opening and falling,” Sonnenfeld said. “I say, ‘Roll camera.’ And I hear Will Smith go, ‘Oh Jesus, so sorry. Tommy, so sorry. Baz, get the ladder.’ And you hear Tommy saying, ‘That’s fine, Will. No worries, Will. Don’t worry, Will.’ Anyway, I don’t know what’s gone on, right?”
“So we race the ladder over. Yeah, Tommy reaches his leg out as the ladder is coming over, races down the stairs. And what happened was, Will Smith is a farter,” the director continued. “It’s just some people are. And you really don’t want to be inside a very small hermetically sealed space with a Will Smith fart. You don’t even want to be sitting next to him at the Disney ranch.”
Sonnenfeld concluded, “We evacuated the stage for about three hours. And that’s incredible. No, he’s, you know, a lovely guy. Just, he farts. Some do, some don’t.”
Obviously, we should all be disappointed in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor. I mean, come on. All of the drama and turmoil that resulted from Smith slapping Chris Rock on the Oscars stage in 2022 over a joke Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith — and you’re telling me it could all have been avoided if he simply marched up to Chris and farted in his face?
Guys, that would have been comedy GOLD!
Then again, if Smith’s farts are as bad as Sonnenfeld says they are, maybe Rock should count himself lucky.