A comic who starred alongside Will Smith in an Oscar-winning movie says he wasn’t surprised when the actor attacked Chris Rock, claiming to have previously been “bullied and humiliated” by Smith himself.
Paul Rodriguez, 67, claims that Smith made life a “living hell” for him on the set of the 2001 biopic Ali, telling The Sun: “Chris Rock only took one slap at the Oscars … but I took a verbal slap from Will Smith every day.”
“And sometimes I think the emotional injuries are just as deep, if not deeper, than physical ones,” the Mexican-American actor added.
“That movie was meant to be a huge stepping stone in my career, but for me it ended up being a nightmare because of all the sickening abuse I got from Smith.
“He was evil to me but nice to everyone else. It was sort of like Jekyll and Hyde.”
The Sun has reached out to representatives of Will Smith’s for comment about Rodriguez’s claims but has not yet heard back.
Rodriguez was cast in Ali, a blockbuster movie chronicling the life of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, as Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, his personal physician and long-serving cornerman. Smith, meanwhile, assumed the leading role and later earned an Oscar nod for his performance.
Reflecting on the moment he landed the role, Rodriguez described it as one of the happiest days of his life.
He also said he was looking forward to the prospect of working with Smith again, having previously starred alongside him in the 1993 rom-com, Made in America.
“Back then he wasn’t the superstar he is now. We hung quite a lot and everything had always been really friendly between us,” Rodriguez said.
“From time to time, I’d run into him in the studio when we were working on different projects and everything was terrific.
“So when I went to audition for Ali, after the fifth or sixth time I read for [the director] Michael Mann, I ran into him again. We stopped and chatted for a little while and I asked him to put in a good word for me.
“He told me, ‘I think he likes you, I think the part is yours already.’”
Ostracised and maligned
When filming started in Chicago and Miami, Rodriguez – who was still starstruck by the A-listers he found himself working beside – said the atmosphere on set was wonderful and cordial.
But suddenly, as if a light switch had been flicked, his once-friendly relationship with Smith completely soured, which eventually led to him being ostracised and maligned by much of the cast and crew, he claims.
Rodriguez said he’s unsure if he did anything personally to offend Smith but pinpointed the beginning of the feud to an alleged incident that happened between Smith and the real Ferdie Pacheco.
“I was off that day so I didn’t see the commotion,” Rodriguez told The Sun. “But the real Ferdie Pacheco was on the set and apparently he was inebriated and went into Will’s dressing room and was complaining that his character should have a bigger part, and should be played by Danny Garcia instead of me.
“Things escalated and apparently Pacheco started calling Will the N-word. Police were called and he was escorted off the set – it was bad.
“Will never looked at me the same from that point onward.”
Rodriguez returned to set the day after the alleged incident, unaware of what had transpired between Smith and the real Dr. Pacheco the night before. He arrived to shoot a scene with Smith where he was tasked with lacing up his gloves.
As Rodriguez remembers it, he asked everyone how they were, including Smith, who he claims flat-out ignored him. Then suddenly the star allegedly looked at him, jerked his arms away, and barked at him, “you don’t know what the f**k you’re doing.”
“Am I’m like, ‘Will, I’m just lacing up gloves, the camera isn’t even on me right now.’ I think my lines were something like, ‘stick and move Champ, stick and move.’
“And he just looked at me again and said, ‘you don’t know what you’re doing,’ and everything just went drastically downhill from there.”
‘I was absolutely bullied’
In the days and weeks that followed, Rodriguez claims he was routinely mocked and bullied by Smith.
Such disparaging behaviour would reportedly include Smith ignoring his greetings and questions, in addition to “threatening” him and turning his fellow cast and crew members against him.
For six hours every morning, Rodriguez would sit in the make-up chair to cosmetically transform into Dr. Pacheco, often next to Smith, who would apparently refuse to say even a word to him.
“[I didn’t even get] the most basic cordiality, you know, not even ‘Good morning. How are you? How’s it going?’ when we all sat on a makeup chair.
“I mean, I was there for six hours every day, but there was never any bantering … we used to talk but now it was as if somebody smelled bad and I was tainted.
“And it tainted the other actors. All of a sudden nobody wanted to hang out with me. Michael Mann even started hollering me out in front of all the other actors in group scenes for things I wasn’t even doing.”
Threatening behaviour
Rodriguez recalled one alleged alarming encounter with Smith while they were filming in Africa that he says has continued to bother him for the last 20 years.
The entire cast of Ali was invited for dinner at Nelson Mandela’s home, but his castmates, most of whom had distanced themselves from him, reportedly neglected to inform Rodriguez.
He said he was sitting alone in his hotel room when he got a knock at the door from Mykelti Williamson, who played boxing promoter Don King in the film, who informed him about the invite.
When he eventually arrived at the Mandela home, Rodriguez claims Smith was visibly upset and annoyed that he’d turned up.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum later came up to Rodriguez and issued him a bizarre “threat”, he alleges.
“I remember I was getting some food from the buffet in that beautiful house when he came up to me and said, ‘You need to be very careful. You’re a long way from anyone who likes you. Because you’re in Africa, there are no Mexicans here.’”
A stunned Rodriguez said he was unsure what to make of Smith’s alleged remarks and asked him to elaborate but he declined to do so.
“If that’s not a threat, I don’t know what is,” Rodriguez reflected, adding at the time he believed Smith’s remarks were racially charged.
Breaking point
At this point, claiming the bullying had become so unbearable, Rodriguez said he threatened to walk away from the production but was ultimately talked down by John Voight, who starred as the famed journalist and sportscaster Howard Cosell.
Voight, as Rodriguez remembers, told him that Smith was a method actor who was under an immense amount of pressure and suggested that relations between the pair would soon improve.
But more than a month into filming, Rodriguez says nothing changed so he made an impassioned plea to Smith to bury whatever hatched he had been holding onto.
In an effort to distinguish himself from the real Dr. Pacheco, Rodriguez said he removed his prosthetics and turned to Smith one day, saying, “’Look, if you’re unsatisfied with me, I’m not gonna sit here and take this abuse. It’s me Paul Rodriguez, man. I’m not Pacheco, I’d never use the word he used, that’s not who I am. I’m playing this guy’.
“I asked him why he was choosing to hurt me but I couldn’t get through. He just told me to ‘shut up and stand there’ [in silence].”
Rodriguez, hoping Voight’s predictions would eventually ring true, said he suffered through the rest of the production which eventually wrapped after six months of filming.
Career in tatters
When the movie was eventually released on Christmas Day 2001, Rodriguez was heartbroken and embarrassed to find that all of his lines had been cut, and his portrayal of Pacheco was reduced to essentially that of an extra.
He found it devastating when friends and family members would call him, saying they’d seen the movie but barely spotted him in it – despite being a featured name in the credits.
Rodriguez believes Smith, and the way he treated him and turned other members of the cast against him, is to blame for his axing from the film.
“I did everything within my power to try to shine in that movie, including taking voice lessons to sound like Pacheco, and for all that I got ostracised and humiliated.
“This seriously injured my career, because Hollywood would’ve looked at how I was cut out and thought, ‘Wow this Rodriguez was so bad they cut him from the move’, but that wasn’t the case.
“It was a disaster and I have to overcome that,” he added. “Smith was amazing in that role, he was nominated for an Oscar – which I think he should’ve won – and the movie was incredible.
“But all I was left with was just a sickening feeling like I was some kind of sacrificial lamb. What was meant to be a dream role was made into a nightmare.”
Rodriguez accused Smith of sabotaging his role in the film, something he said was very important to him and that he’d worked incredibly hard to get.
The actor, who last year starred in the live-action remake of Clifford The Big Red Dog, said after the disaster of Ali he felt as though he’d been “relegated” from Hollywood.
“I’ve had some successes, but for the most part I feel as though I was cast aside after that,” he said. “I feel like I’ll never get a chance for a shot at the big time.
“I feel like Ali himself, he was put in prison during his prime years and you just don’t get them back. Hollywood isn’t clamouring for a 67-year-old leading man, so it’s my burden to share.”
Prior claims
Rodriguez isn’t the first former co-star of Smith’s to accuse him of turning others against them on set.
Actor Janet Hubert, who played Aunt Viv during the first three seasons of TheFresh Prince of Bel-Air, previously revealed how Smith made life “very difficult” for her during the show, forcing her to walk away in 1993.
While Hubert left of her own volition, Smith suggested in the press at the time that Hubert had been fired for being difficult to work with.
In an HBO reunion special last year, Smith admitted making things difficult for Hubert, saying he felt as though “everything was a threat to him” when he was on the show.
“I can see now the level of pain and the level of struggle that it was just for you to show up every day,” he said.
Hubert responded: “But you took all of that away from me – with your words. Words can kill. I lost everything. Reputation. Everything. And I understand you were able to move forward, but you know those words, calling a Black woman ‘difficult’ in Hollywood, is the kiss of death.”
Rodriguez acknowledged the seeming parallels between his and Huber’s experiences working with Smith, insisting they “likely aren’t the only ones” to have been on the received end of Smith’s “abuse.”
Unsurprised
Rodriguez said he was inspired to share his story in the wake of Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, where Will Smith stormed on stage and struck comedian Chris Rock in the face with an open palm.
The ruckus came just seconds after Rock poked fun at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, for her buzzcut hairstyle.
“’G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,” a grinning Rock quipped.
Will Smith initially burst into laughter but ran onstage after Jada, who recently revealed she suffers from alopecia, rolled her eyes at the gag.
The smack stunned Rock, who attempted to keep the show going as Smith returned to his seat and yelled “Keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth” at him twice as he spoke.
Smith was reportedly asked to leave the awards ceremony but refused. Less than 45 minutes later he was back on stage again, accepting a Best Actor award for his portrayal of Richard Williams, the father of Serena and Venus Williams, in King Richard.
Smith is now facing expulsion from the Academy as an investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
Rodriguez said he wasn’t surprised by Smith’s shocking outburst, having been on the receiving end of the star’s “rage” himself more than two decades ago, he claimed.
“When he hit Chris and I saw that smug look on his face, where he looked like a thug, I lost my fear [about sharing my story]. I’ve got nothing to lose – I’m just angry.
“He looked like he was saying, ‘I dare anybody to touch me.’ But he’d just committed a crime; you get arrested for that if you’re an ordinary human being, but apparently, he’s above the law.”
Rodriguez said it was outrageous that the “laws of civility and conduct” demanded of wider society were seemingly ignored to the benefit of Smith “just because he can act.”
“Are we going to excuse Harvey Weinstein because he’s a great producer in spite of all the women he’s hurt?” he asked. “No, it doesn’t cancel it out – so it shouldn’t for Smith either.
“This industry has been so generous to Smith. He’s hit the highest possible heights and this is how he acts? It’s outrageous, but not surprising.”
‘I feel sorry for him’
Though more than 20 years have passed since the filming of Ali, Rodriguez says he hopes Smith will one day apologise to him for how he was treated, as so far no such gesture has been forthcoming.
While he waits, Rodriguez voiced support for remarks shared by fellow comedian Jim Carey earlier this week, who suggested that Chris Rock should press charges against Smith and sue him for $200 million.
Rodriguez told The Sun that although it’s unlikely Smith with ever face criminal charges, he will likely forevermore suffer in the court of public opinion.
“It’s a very sad situation, I guess I feel sorry for [Smith] in a way,” he said. “I’m not wishing him anything other than for him to look at himself in the mirror for him to get the proper treatment that he needs to get.
“I also hope he properly apologises to Rock, because a post on social media is not an apology – he needs to come to his door.”
Should the chance arise to work with Smith again in the future, Rodriguez said he’d pass, believing working with the star in lieu of an apology would just bring up too much pain.
“I feel he did me so much damage,” Rodriguez said. “But deep down in my heart, I’ve always said that people dig their own graves and this was always going to come out eventually.
“I bet as the months go on, we’ll find out I wasn’t the only one he was evil to.”
This story originally appeared in The Sun and has been reproduced with permission.
