Two distinct events converged for Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor at the 2021 Academy Awards: she attended the ceremony as a first-time Best Supporting Actress nominee for her portrayal of Oracene “Brandy” Price in the sports drama King Richard, and her co-star Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face in what has become a hallmark moment of pop culture.
After presenter Rock joked about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair, a symptom of her alopecia (“Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!” he said), Smith climbed onto the Oscars stage, slapped Rock, and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f---ing mouth!”
Smith won the award for Best Actor several awkward moments later for his role as Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams. Smith was banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years after the incident, and the debate still rages on about the Slap’s morality and implications five years later.
But Ellis-Taylor, who currently stars in the Apple TV crime-thriller miniseries Lucky, told Obsessed: The Podcast that she still supports her on-screen husband.
“I know that he wanted to protect his wife, and I stand by that,” she said. “I stand with him for that. I think that this idea that First Amendment rights should protect everybody—I don’t think it should necessarily protect a--holes. I really don’t.”
Ellis-Taylor also said Smith was a delight to work with. He would often stand up for “background artists,” and he treated everyone on set with immense respect. The actress found those qualities especially impressive given Smith’s fame and status as the movie’s lead actor. She said his tendency to look out for his colleagues, no matter their roles, was refreshing in an often toxic industry.
When Ellis-Taylor brought up to Smith that she was “not paid respectfully” for King Richard, Smith “took money out of his own pocket” to double both her pay and the pay of everybody in the cast, she previously told The Independent.
Comparing Smith to her Origin co-star Jon Bernthal, Ellis-Taylor said, “My experience working with those men, they were two of the most honoring and loving and kind and caretaking actors that I’ve worked with. And Will certainly took care of everybody. He just would not allow anybody to be treated poorly in his presence. He just would not allow it.”
“I cannot tell you how rare that is in this job,” she continued. “People who are number one on the call sheet, they see them being number one on the call sheet as a reason for everyone to cater to them and for them to be a--holes and for them to be method and just not give a f--- about anybody. They see it as permission to do that. They see it as their right to do that. And that’s not how he was at all. So I will always have a great deal of affection and care for him because he acted that way, and not just with me, with everybody.”
Ellis-Taylor recognizes comedians’ First Amendment rights, but she doesn’t see freedom of speech as a pretext for cruelty. Her background has reinforced her belief that First Amendment rights, while vital, shouldn’t be a catch-all for justifying hate.
“I’m from the state of Mississippi, and people have used First Amendment right protections to defend the Confederate flag,” she said. “I know blanket First Amendment valorization. I don’t buy into that. To say the least, it needs to be nuanced, and you can’t use it as an excuse to harm someone.”
Lucky is available on Apple TV+. The finale of the limited series airs August 19.
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