Will Smith Makes His Return To The Big Screen With 'Emancipation' and more
“REVOLT Black News Weekly” aired on Friday (Dec. 2) to discuss illegal police practices, the case of Migos rapper Takeoff, the uptick of gun violence in hip hop, and Will Smith’s latest movie, Emancipation. REVOLT Special Correspondent Rochelle Ritchie led the episode titled, “Black Men Violated and Humiliated; Finding Solutions to the Gun Violence Hitting the Culture; and Doing Away with the Cash Bail System.”
She was joined by radio personality Tory Lowe; University of Edinburgh professor Tommy J. Curry; Civil Rights attorney Ronnie Cromer; executive producer P. Frank Williams and rapper Silkk the Shocker. REVOLT Entertainment Correspondent Kennedy Rue McCullough also brought viewers the latest in celebrity news, during which she interviewed Smith about his new blockbuster film.
Ritchie opened the show by discussing the issue of illegal police strip searches that violated the rights of Black and brown residents in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In recent months, young Black boys have come forward and exposed discriminatory practices within the city’s police department that have subjected them to unwarranted body cavity searches.
While speaking with REVOLT, Curry said, “These incidents aren’t rare. They’re publicized, but they never seem to make it to the front page of any discussions we have about anti-Black racism, Black Lives Matter, or even a case or cause for civil rights.”
He continued, “Black men for the last three decades have been reporting [that they have been] penetrated by batons, screwdrivers and fingers” at the hands of white officers.
Lowe told REVOLT, “A lot of times these men are embarrassed to come forward to talk about it. It’s humiliating to really talk about what happened [and] that they were touched inappropriately by law enforcement.”
He continued, “But these young men that we’re seeing going viral, they just had enough.”
Later in the show, McCullough hosted her “Entertainment Remix” segment, where she spotlighted Smith’s attendance at an LA black carpet event for his most recent film, Emancipation, which marks his first public appearance following the 2022 Academy Awards. During the premiere, the award-winning actor discussed the historic photo of “Whipped Peter,” an escaped slave who posed for a picture in 1863 revealing the scars on his back.
“It was just a picture that I had seen when I was young and now, for me, all of those scars have stories,” Smith recounted.
He continued, “In Peter’s writings, he talks about one of the times he was beaten into a coma and he said in the coma, he met God. And when he came out of the coma, he was in a new place of faith and revelation. That was one of the most interesting aspects of it to me.”
McCullough also spoke with actress Imani Pullum, who played Smith’s daughter in the film. She described her relationship with “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star as “an out-of-body experience.”
“I felt it’s a little bit challenging to switch off from him being Will Smith to being my dad. My jaw was on the floor because it’s Will Smith. I got more comfortable and able to see him as my dad throughout the process of filming this movie,” Pullum shared.
Watch a quick clip from this week’s episode up top. Plus, be sure to catch the new installment of “REVOLT Black News Weekly” on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022 at 5 p.m. ET via REVOLT’s app.