"Do something good for the world" is believed to be one of the life creeds of many people, but for most ordinary people, the most important channels for charity are volunteering, donating money, and donating materials.
This is not the case for celebrities. They can appeal in front of the camera, fund scientific research projects, develop green products... There are significantly more choices.
In fact, these "high-end" charity works of celebrities are often inseparable from the various charitable foundations they created - a large number of Hollywood's first-line stars have their own foundations, from the late Paul Newman to the current Ma Damon, Leonardo, Beyoncé, Keanu Reeves, Lady Gaga, Mr. and Mrs. Will Smith...too many.
However, Will Smith's foundation is about to collapse.
(Will and wife Jada)
According to Variety magazine, the Smith Foundation is currently in the process of permanently closing. A person close to the foundation revealed that the Smiths are gradually disbanding the foundation, which was founded in 1996. In the future, they will donate an equal amount of funds to charity, but only privately.
The reason behind this is not difficult to guess, it can only be Will’s slap at the Oscars.
(The famous scene where Will slaps Chris Rock)
Although the Smiths claim that the foundation focuses on the four areas of "health, arts and education, empowerment, and sustainable development," Will's public image plummeted after this slap - — In the past, people thought of him, perhaps as the father in "The Pursuit of Happiness", or as the loner in "I Am Legend"...
But now, when mentioning him, they will inevitably think of that one hand.
This is obviously not good news for his philanthropy. Although the foundation's main source of funding is Will, it obviously does not exclude donations. And after he beats people, the donors have to weigh it:
He can beat people in public, so is his claim of "charity"... still credible?
As a result, the foundation's income has plummeted. According to tax records, the foundation's income in 2020 was US$1.76 million, and in 2021, it reached US$2.138 million.
However, by 2022, the year Will beat someone, the foundation’s income was only $365,870, a sharp drop of 83%.
In addition, wealthy individuals who had previously donated generously to the Smith Foundation have also cut off their donations.
In 2021, American Airlines donated US$76,160, and Creative Artists Agency (caa) donated US$100,000. The next year, both companies stopped donating .
(Foundation official website)
Looking at the money donated by the foundation, there are also some strange parts, especially after 2022.
This year, they donated $15,000 to the "rebecoming organization". However, the so-called "rebecoming" seems to be just an empty shell of . The website has not been updated since 2020, and the tax records are stuck in 2022.
Variety attempted to contact the organization through phone numbers and addresses on tax records, but all attempts were unsuccessful. The phone number of
is unreachable, and their "office" is even sandwiched between a pizza shop and a dry cleaner. There is no door number, and the glass is covered with a thick layer of dust. Apparently no one has come here for a long time:
(the so-called " "rebecoming" office)
Similarly, there is an organization called "world rebirth", and the Smith Foundation donated $10,000 to them.
This "world rebirth" is actually even more unreliable than "rebecoming". The website simply cannot be opened:
(the official website of "world rebirth" that cannot be opened)
does have an official Facebook page, but in 2023 After posting a logo, it has not been updated...
(the last Facebook post of "World Rebirth")
The Facebook introduction reads:
"Simply speaking, the World Rebirth Foundation To help those in need, teach life skills, and build work skills..."
At first glance, it looks like the same thing, but upon closer inspection, there are all kinds of small mistakes, such as "in a nutshell" , "in need" does not need to be hyphenated, "teach" does not need to be capitalized...
(a Facebook profile full of small errors)
Such low-level errors are almost impossible to occur in professional organizations.
As usual, "Variety" tried to dial the number of "World Rebirth", but the call was hilariously transferred to "Platinum City Entertainment and Movies" , which sounded like a telecommunications scam...
Likewise, World Reborn's tax records are stuck in 2021, while the Smith Foundation donated to them in 2022.
A source close to the foundation explained that the money was "donated to another celebrity's charity," but Variety was unable to confirm that detail with the celebrity's team.
It is also worth mentioning the "additional expenditures" of the Smith Foundation. In 2022, they actually had bank overdraft fees of up to 3,304 US dollars ...
(overdraft fees of 3,304 dollars)
What is an "overdraft" "Fee"?
For example, Xiao Ming has 50 yuan in his account and he urgently needs 75 yuan, so the bank temporarily lends him 25 yuan. But this comes with a high price, namely overdraft fees, which may cost 30 at a time, which is more than the money he borrowed.
The current average overdraft fee at a U.S. bank is $26.61. A charity can accumulate more than $3,000 in overdraft fees, which means they overdraft more than a hundred times a year. It is simply outrageous.
(data from the Internet: "The average overdraft fee has dropped to $26.61")
What's even weirder is that the foundation has actually been depleted for a long time. Sources close to the organization said that in 2021, the foundation will lay off two employees. After 2022, the organization will not have any paid employees.
The implication is, are there still employees working without pay?
Anyway, their tax records show this - in 2022, they are still approving budgets for office equipment and computers, but without employees, who will use them?
But these mysteries may remain unanswered. Will's team refuses to respond to questions, and the foundation is now basically on its way out. Their ig account has not been updated since the end of 2022, and the Facebook update has also been stuck in June 2023.
(the last ig of the foundation)
It is expected that in the next few months, the foundation will submit tax information for 2023. As for 2024... there may not be any more.
But then again, the above only affects Will's philanthropy. He is still one of the highest-grossing movie actors on the planet.
Will currently has at least four projects in production, including the highly anticipated sequel to "I Am Legend" and "Bad Boys 4," the latter of which released a trailer yesterday.
(The "Jedi Men 4" trailer released yesterday)
As for Will's love life... Oscar's slap in the face actually saved Will's marriage. Last year, Jada wrote a memoir, the promotion process At that time, she actually said that
she and Will had been separated for many years, but after that slap, they embarked on the "road to reconciliation"...
Looking at it this way, in addition to the damage to their image, their charity was also frustrated. In addition, Will did not seem to have suffered any substantial losses...
