‘Why do we have to see that?’: Willow Smith reacts as father Will brings out real-life slavery devices on Red Table Talk
Will Smith stars as newly freed slave Peter in historical thriller ‘Emancipation’
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Your support makes all the difference.Will Smith horrified his daughter Willow on the latest episode of Red Table Talk.
On Wednesday (14 December), Smith and his children Willow, 22, Jaden, 24, and Trey Smith, 30, took over Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch series.
During the episode, Smith opened up to his children about the “gruelling and transformative” process of filming his newest movie, Emancipation.
The Oscar-winning actor stars as freed slave Peter in director Antoine Fuqua’s thrilling film, based on a true story.
After sharing the “terrifying” experience of “psychologically” losing himself to his character Peter, Smith said: “I wanted to show you guys in real life some of the brutal, dehumanising devices that were used during slavery.”
“Oh no, no!” Willow exclaimed in response as someone on set brought out a neck device used to keep slaves from running away. “Why do we need to see that?”
“You have to know,” Smith said, as Jaden reacted in disbelief: “Wow, this is insane.”
“This is like the ones that were in the movie that had the bells,” Jaden observed, while Smith questioned: “Who even dreams this up?”
The neck device with bells was then brought out and passed between Smith and his children, who noted its heaviness.
“Imagine, somebody puts that on your neck, they can take any of you away. They could rape anybody they want, whenever they want,” Smith said.
“For me as an actor, my image was you guys and imagining being pulled away. Just imagine somebody comes in here right now and beats me and snatches me away, and you guys don’t know if you’ll ever see me again.
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“That is the legacy of slavery in America.”
Elsewhere in the Red Table Talk episode, Smith recounted the terrifying moment he was stuck in the neck chain for 15 minutes. He also recalled one of his co-stars spitting on him in one ad-libbed scene.
Emancipation is now streaming on Apple TV+. Read The Independent’s two-star review of the film here.
Smith’s Red Table Talk Takeover with Willow, Jaden and Trey is available to stream on Facebook Watch.
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