Will Smith Backed Out Grammys Hip Hop Tribute Says Questlove

Questlove says that Will Smith was set to perform at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 5) during a tribute commemorating 50 years of Hip Hop. However, The Fresh Prince pulled out at the last minute. Why? The Roots drummer disclosed the reason during an interview with Variety: “I’ll give the spoiler alert away: Will Smith was a part of the festivities tonight, but they started shooting ‘Bad Boys 4’ already this week.”

“There’s a lot of preliminary shots that he had to do, so we had to lose Will,” Questlove continued. The 50 years of Hip Hop tribute included several big names in the culture such as Ice-T, LL Cool J, The Roots and Queen Latifah. A four-time Grammy winner himself, the celebrated band member spoke further on Will Smith‘s absence: “It was a shot in the dark. He’s always shooting movies. We had a lot of people and some of them have other jobs.” He added: “There was a lot of legit reasons why we couldn’t be all-inclusive of some people.”

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Questlove took home Best Documentary for “Summer of Soul” at the 2022 Academy Awards, and had Will Smith came to the 2023 Grammys it would have been the first time the pair graced each other’s presence since the “Switch” rapper notoriously smacked Chris Rock on stage. The Roots member quipped that he didn’t actually witness the slap because during the commercial break he was meditating backstage.

Via social media, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence declared that the fourth film in the ‘Bad Boys‘ franchise is gearing up to hit the big screens soon. Brandishing a 4K video camcorder, Smith got into his vehicle and rode over to Lawrence’s residence. After the Philly native knocked on the door, Lawrence opened it and hugged Smith; this led to both actors confirming a fourth installment is on the way. “IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME!” read the caption on the “Bad Boys 4” proclamation video.

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