Viewers tuning into the Grammy Awards on Sunday night were furious when Will Smith walked up on stage to pay tribute to Quincy Jones.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor paid tribute to the music mogul, who passed away in November at the age of 91. Will introduced the tribute, calling Jones "one of the most influential and groundbreaking figures of our times." The late producer was honoured with a medley of some of the hundreds of songs he worked on throughout his prolific career.
Will had his acting debut on Fresh Prince - which saw Jones as the executive producer and the composer. During his speech, Will noted how Jones "changed his life forever". He said: "You probably wouldn’t even know who Will Smith was if it wasn’t for Quincy Jones. He made so many greats across multiple genres sound even better."
His appearance at the Grammy Awards comes almost three years after he was banned from the Oscars. The last time he joined an awards show stage he slapped comedian Chris Rock. After Chris made a joke about Will's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, he took to the stage and slapped the star across the face.
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Billboard via Getty Images)He was soon banned from the Oscar Awards for a decade, with the Academy confirming in a statement: "During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room." Fans were furious that the Pursuit of Happyness star took part in the show, with many rushing to social media to slam him.
Writing on X/Twitter, one user said: "Why the heck is Will Smith on the Grammys? Are you out of your mind? Get him the heck off!" and another furious fan added: "Why the F**K is Will Smith on my TV screen at the Grammys announcing anything??? He doesn't deserve to be in the spotlight after his assault on Chris Rock."
"Can someone explain why did we have to listen to Will Smith’s yapping for 10 minutes straight at the Grammys? Is he even nominated?" one confused fan commented while one posted: "How is Will Smith still allowed at award shows, let alone allowed to present?"
Some fans noted how Will previously boycotted the Grammys. In 1989, Will and musical partner DJ Jazzy Jeff boycotted the show after finding out the presentation of the award for the new category of best rap performance wouldn't be televised. The duo were nominated and won the Grammy for Parents Just Don't Understand.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the time, he said: "We don’t have the problem with the Grammy as an award or the Grammys as an institution, we just had a problem with the 1989 design of the awards show. We chose to boycott. We feel that it’s a slap in the face.”
After winning an award, Will said to the LA Times he was "more than happy to accept it" but added: "I’m not as happy as I could have been. … [The presentation not being televised] detracts from the excitement of the award.” On his decision to boycott the show, he said: "Absolutely no second feelings. The way it happened was exactly the way I wanted it to happen.”
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