Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s charity faced a steep decline in donations following the infamous slapping incident at the 2022 Oscars, per a new Variety report.
The famous couple created the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation in 1996 as a place to advocate for issues they cared about such as mental health, wellness, arts education, and sustainability, the outlet noted. But tax records indicate that donations plummeted after the 94th Academy Awards ceremony when Will stormed onto the stage and slapped event host Chris Rock across the face for making a joke about Jada’s bald head.
The incident has had long-lasting effects on the “Men In Black” star, who has since issued numerous public apologies.
One apparent outcome was the decreased donation amounts to the Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation. Per data available on ProPublica, foundation revenue was $1,760,000 in 2020 and $2,138,660 in 2021. After the slap, filings for 2022 showed just $365,870 in donations, representing a drop of 83% compared to the previous year. Variety noted that this decline was due in part to the withdrawal of major contributions from American Airlines and CAA, which had donated $76,160 and $100,000 in 2021 respectively.
An unnamed source allegedly told the outlet that the Smiths were winding down the charity with the intention of shutting it down.
The Smiths made headlines last year when Jada revealed they weren’t technically together anymore. The actress made the revelation in October 2023 that she and Will have been separated since 2016 despite presenting as a united front, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
She told interviewer Hoda Kotb during an NBC News interview at the time, “Why [the relationship] fractured… that’s a lot of things. By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” she said.
“I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce. We will work through … whatever,” the celeb said of why they never officially divorced. “I just haven’t been able to break that promise.”
Fans had previously been confused about Jada admitting to having a romantic relationship with another man while married to Will in 2020, which she discussed during an episode of her “Red Table Talk” series. This led to rumors that the Smiths were in an open marriage, which they didn’t refute until years later when Jada admitted they were actually separated at the time of her “entanglement.”