Will Smith Can Re-Earn Trust and Gain Forgiveness

Will Smith knows he brought hellfire on himself with his violent behavior at the Oscars, going on stage uninvited and slapping Chris Rock.

While he has now made two apologies, they have not been deemed good enough by the court of public opinion because Smith’s words have not shown that he has come to grip with the totality of the error of his decision making and violent behavior. He also hasn’t exhibited humility and remorse towards the victim of his aggression and abuse. That’s problematic.

Yet should Smith be forever condemned, if he shows soon and sustainably, how much he knows he erred and does everything he should do and needs to do with his communication and other actions to heal hurt with Rock and with all whom he offended?

People’s emotions are understandably raw right now. Smith doesn’t get a free pass for what he did and it will take a lengthy period of time for him to recover from his assault on Rock, that wrecked years of positive reputation building leading to trust and likability with so many.

Some believe or wonder if Smith will ever again be employable. Unless he, figuratively speaking, flips off Rock, the Academy and critics, with arrogance and dismissiveness, he will remain marketable as an artist, is employable and is a good business relationship risk.

What happened was wrong. The intentions good. The strategy and impulse control, disastrous.

Hopefully, privately, Smith is not proud of his reaction and with time, will realize, despite the painful joke at his wife’s expense, there were healthier, respectful ways to intelligently, successfully respond to Rock in his desire to stand up and support his wife against what he saw was insulting, disrespectful and maybe even bullying.

The bet here is that Smith will in time do what needs to be done when it comes to personal development and believable acts of contrition. He must be intrinsically motivated to do so, prove deserving of forgiveness, learning from the fallout due to his actions and then humbly, quietly, nobly suffer his consequences and punishments and never re-offend.