Unearthed Moment Will Smith 'Mocks Bald Man'

An old clip of Will Smith making a joke about a bald person has resurfaced in the wake of last weekend's shocking Oscars ceremony.

The video from a 1991 interview on The Arsenio Hall Show was unearthed this week, after the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star had a rather controversial reaction to a joke made about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith during the Academy Awards.

Watch the clip here:

As most know by now, Will made waves at this year's Oscars when he climbed up on stage to smack host Chris Rock after the comedian referred to Jada as 'G.I Jane' due to her shaved head.

Returning to his seat, Smith yelled up to Rock, telling him to "keep my wife's name out your f*cking mouth".

Jada suffers from the autoimmune disease alopecia - a fact that Will Smith pointed out in his recent apology post.

The move sparked a serious debate online. While many believe Will's actions were out of line, others are siding with the King Richard star for standing up for his wife.

Amongst the discussion, a video clip of Will Smith in his early 20s quickly spread across the Twitter-sphere. In the video, Will is being interviewed by Arsenio Hall when he makes a joke about bass player John B. Williams' bald head.

Alamy)

The actor seen pointing out John and jokes: "Like, he has a rule, the bass player? He's got a rule: He's gotta wax his head every day. That's a rule."

When his comment is met with some hesitant laughter from the crowd, Will says: "Ah these are jokes, come on!"

Sharing the video clip across Twitter, people are pointing out the 'double standards' of Will's joke.

"This. This is EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING," tweeted one viewer. "Why can he comment about someone’s appearance claiming it’s a joke, yet when it comes to him & his family they’re off limits."

A second simply wrote: "Yep... the internet remembers," while a third sarcastically commented: "Oh look, double standards from a hollywood superstar."

Another Twitter user wrote: "Lest we forget the time Will Smith joked about a man and said 'it's a joke, come on' sounds like his past came back to haunt him."

Paramount)

John B. Williams himself has since spoken out about the resurfaced footage. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he sympathised with Will and explained that, unlike Jada, he did not suffer from alopecia.

Rather, Williams shaved his head when his hair started to thin, possibly due to treatment he received for measles as a child.

He told the magazine: "I like Chris Rock. When Chris first made the comment, Will was laughing. It wasn't until it became obvious Jada didn't think it was funny that Will went to her defense. Love makes you do all kinds of things.

"That's his wife, who he loves. He just reacted from outrage. I have sometimes reacted from outrage."

Topics: Will Smith, Celebrity

Ali Condon

Ali is a journalist for LADbible Group, writing on all things film, music, and entertainment across Tyla, LADbible and UNILAD. You can contact Ali at [email protected].

@alicondon