Will Smith’s Popularity dive 30% After Oscars Slap, Poll Finds

Will Smith’s popularity has reportedly plummented in the wake of his slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards this past March.

In a report from Variety citing his Q Scores – a metric that measures the fame and appeal of celebrities, statistics indicate that the public’s perception of the 53-year-old actor fell in the wake of his attack on Rock, 57, at the March 27 event at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.

The Oscars exchange between Smith and Rock took place after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, saying, ‘Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it,’ in reference to the 1997 movie which featured Demi Moore with a shaved head, and not knowning that Pinkett Smith, 50, has been battling alopecia, which causes hair loss.

Smith then walked onstage and smacked Rock, then returned to his seat and shouted at him twice, ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!’ to a stunned audience.

Prior to the Oscars, Smith was a regular in the top five or 10 of the most positively rated actors, based on surveys Q Scores conducted each January and July of 1,800 American consumers ages 6 and up, Q Scores executive VP Henry Schafer told Variety.

Smith was regularly ranked near popular stars such as Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.

The differential between numbers from this year’s January and July polls indicated what Schafer described as ‘a very significant and precipitous decline’ of Smith’s positive Q Score from 39 to 24, according to the outlet.

Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith also took a hit to her image, according to the outlet, as her positive score fell from 13 to 6, while her negative score went from 29 to 44.

The decline of Smith’s popularity is likely to have an impact in regards to studios or advertisers looking to work with the actor, according to the outlet. It is ‘not as bad as I’ve seen for other celebrities who have experienced antisocial events,’ Schafer said, noting that Tiger Woods reputation took a worse hit in the wake of his cheating scandal in 2009.

Demographic numbers indicated that women and non-Black people polled had a more negative rating than men and Black people polled, according to the outlet.