Ellis-Taylor is simply standing by her colleague and friend, someone she worked closely with during an Oscar-winning performance. She's not condoning violence—she's defending the human reaction to watching someone you love be mocked mercilessly on live TV. It's loyalty over political correctness.
Hollywood has been divided on Smith since 2022, but Ellis-Taylor represents a growing contingent of actors who feel the industry was too quick to ostracize him while Chris Rock's Jada Pinkett Smith joke—about her alopecia—was swept under the rug. Some insiders say the Williams family never abandoned Smith either.
The interview took place on The Daily Beast's 'Obsessed' podcast, published August 13, 2026. Ellis-Taylor received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Oracene Price in 'King Richard' (2021), where she co-starred with Will Smith playing the father of Venus and Serena Williams.
Ellis-Taylor just put herself squarely in the 'Team Will' camp, and she's not backing down. In an era when Hollywood demands perfect accountability, she's arguing that some moments demand human instinct over rehearsed apologies.
Three years after Will Smith walked on stage at the Academy Awards and slapped Chris Rock across the face, the debate over whether his actions were justified continues to divide Hollywood—and now Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor has weighed in with a take that's drawing serious attention. The Oscar-nominated actress, who played Smith's on-screen wife Oracene Price—mother of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams—in the 2021 biopic 'King Richard,' appeared this week on The Daily Beast's 'Obsessed' podcast and made her position crystal clear: she stands by Will Smith.
"I stand By That" was how Variety reported her declaration, with Ellis-Taylor adding a philosophical layer to her defense that has since gone viral across entertainment outlets. The core of Ellis-Taylor's argument centers on what she sees as the limits of free speech protections when wielded as a weapon against vulnerable people. While Smith faced widespread condemnation and was effectively blacklisted from major studio films for a period following the incident, Rock's joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia condition received comparatively lighter scrutiny in the court of public opinion.
Ellis-Taylor appears to believe that distinction matters—and she's refusing to perform the kind of contrition that Hollywood typically demands from its stars. The Williams family connection adds another layer to this story that's worth examining. Smith spent months working alongside the actual Venus and Serena during 'King Richard' production, and while both sisters have remained largely diplomatic in their public statements about the Oscars incident, sources close to them suggest they were more sympathetic to Smith's emotional outburst than the industry-wide condemnation indicated.
Ellis-Taylor's willingness to speak plainly may reflect a broader sentiment within that inner circle that was never publicly aired. What's notable is the timing—2026 marks four years since the infamous slap, and Smith has been slowly rebuilding his career with projects like 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' and various independent ventures. Ellis-Taylor's public support could signal that the tide is turning in terms of industry forgiveness, even as social media remains fiercely divided on whether Smith's moment of violence represented righteous protection or an unacceptable breach of decorum. Either way, she's made clear where she stands—and she's not apologizing for it.
