Are the TIs going after Will Smith?

"Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underachiever!" - Bill Hicks

For a minute there, it looked like the TIs might have been going after Will Smith. Now I'm not so sure what's going on. We'll just have to see how this plays out.

In case you haven't heard, Will Smith was quoted in an interview recently as saying that Hitler was a good person. He was just a little bit crazy. Er, something along those lines.

For the sake of responsible journalism (this is, after all, XXL), here's Will Smith's remarks in full:

“Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today’,” said Will. “I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good’. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.”

This was in response to a question having to do with whether or not he felt everyone (presumably including Hitler) was basically good.

So of course the next thing you know, the statement was all over TMZ and any number of other teh ghey-ass celebrity gossip-oriented blogs and websites, carrying headlines such as "Will Smith: Hitler Was a Good Person!" There was lots speculation as to how disastrous an effect this might have on his career.

Just this month, the actor set a new record for a December opening at the box office, beating out those Lord of the Rings movies. And I believe he was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year for his role in The Pursuit of Happyness, though I'm not going to spend the time it would take to make sure.

Suffice it to say the guy was on a roll.

For their part, the Anti-Defamation League didn't waste any time issuing fatwas press releases and what have you. I guess it's not like they were taking the week off to celebrate Christmas. In addition to denouncing Will Smith's statement, they called on movie theaters to stop showing I Am Legend; and for presidential candidate Barack Obama, who was recently endorsed by the Will Smith (heh), to cut ties with the actor.

Fortunately for the Senator, who's having a hard enough time as it is trying to woo black voters, what with the beginning of the primary elections coming up in a mere matter of days, it looks like some phone calls might have been made and things might have been straightened out over the weekend.

Will Smith issued his own statement, using several different adjectives to describe just what a bad person Hitler was, and also condemning TMZ and the like for twisting his words around. And the ADL issued another press release, officially accepting his clarification and calling off the lynching for the time being.

Whew!

Given that this has all taken place in the last 48 hours or so, I guess it remains to be seen whether Will Smith is completely out of the water, or what effect this might have on his career over the long run. Either way, it obviously raises a number of issues.

First of all, there's the issue of Jewish people constantly fucking with black people, as if black people ever did anything to the Jews other than occasionally showing up late with the rent. Which I know I've been guilty of myself from time to time. (My bad, Jews.)

Proud black man that I am, I'm too lazy to sit here and rattle off the litany of such incidents, but this latest one follows in a long line of instances in which Jews have tried to have black leaders/entertainers (really, what's the difference?) fired from their jobs just because they slipped up and said Hymietown or whatever. As if.

And while I could generally give a rat's ass about Will Smith, it was tough watching him bend over and kiss Abraham Foxman's ring like that (nullus), especially since it's obvious there was no real anti-semitic intent in his statement. I wouldn't even have done that shit. Then again, it's not like I've had much success in like, anything ever.

Maybe that's just what it takes.