In a sequence from Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Will Smith’s character Mike Lowrey was repeatedly smacked by Marcus Burnett, played by Martin Lawrence, in a possible subliminal reference to his notorious Oscars slap incident. For those who don’t know, on March 27, 2022, during the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith made his way onto the stage and gave Chris Rock a face-slap in front of a global audience.
In the action sequence, Lowrey is about to have a panic attack when Burnett, his partner in the detective agency, slaps him repeatedly to stop him. Despite being intended as lighthearted entertainment throughout the film, it elicited a range of responses from viewers and reviewers, with several individuals connecting it to the Oscars event.
One clear example is Variety reviewer Own Gleiberman’s assessment, in which he called the scenario “a kind of pop exorcism” and called it a “direct reference” to the Oscars event. He said, “It’s ‘punishing’ Smith, making cruel fun of his transgression, and just maybe, in the process, allowing him to crawl out from under the image of it.” Will Smith called his actions that day “unacceptable” and issued an apology for the Oscars incident.
