Paul Rodriguez accused Will Smith of bullying him during the filming of 'Ali' (2024)

Ever since the scandalous scene that Will Smith and Chris Rock starred during the 2022 Oscar ceremony, the controversy has accompanied the actor in films such as In Search of Happiness; on this occasion, Mexican-born actor Paul Rodriguez accused Smith of bullying him while they were performing the shooting of the film Ali.

In an interview with The Sun, Paul Rodríguez recalled the bitter experience he had sharing a project with Will Smith, which was far from what the actor of Mexican descent expected. On the contrary, the 67-year-old actor reported that every day of recording he received a verbal slap in the face by the winner of the Oscar for Best Actor, who kept having a rude attitude only to him.

“Chris Rock was only slapped in the face at the Oscars, but I received a verbal slap from Will Smith every day,” Paul Rodriguez said in an interview with The Sun.

In this way, Paul Rodríguez described it as a nightmare to work with Will Smith and pointed out that on different occasions the winner of the Oscar for Best Actor played down his character in Ali.

“That film was meant to be a great springboard in my career, but for me it ended up being a nightmare because of all the disgusting abuse I received from Smith. He was mean to me but kind to everyone else. It was something like Jekyll and Hyde...”, said Paul Rodriguez.

The actor with Mexican roots stated that Will Smith constantly intimidated him and that he was even in charge of turning the entire cast of the film against him. , which made the recordings a real torture for Paul Rodriguez.

Paul Rodriguez and Will Smith were part of the cast of the film Ali, which was released in the early 2000s and was directed by Michael Mann. It was a biographical genre film, as it tells the story of the iconic American boxer Mohamed Ali who will Smith played; for his part, Paul Rodriguez was responsible for giving life to physiotherapist Fernando Pacheco.

The actor of Mexican descent recalled that throughout his acting career he had been pigeonholed into roles of immigrants or Latin American characters, so it was the first time he was hired to play a character not so cliché. However, Will Smith was responsible for minimizing their participation.

Paul Rodríguez felt that the attitude of the Oscar winner for best actor was because he had some resentment towards him because he wanted his friend Danny Garcia to be the one to stay with the role of Fernando Pacheco. In addition, he recalled that one day he got tired of the mistreatment of the protagonist of The Prince of Rap and insulted him, which is why the police kicked out of the recording set.

During the 2022 Oscar Awards ceremony, actor Chris Rock was slapped in the face by Will Smith. The reaction of the former protagonist of Men in Black came after his colleague made a joke comparing his wife's short hair, Jada Pinkett Smith, to Demi Moore's shaved character in the 1997 film “G.I. Jane”.

Moments later, when he won the Best Actor Award for his role in King Richard, Will felt sorry for his aggression and addressed everyone present.

“I know that by doing what we do you have to be able to accept abuse, you have to accept people talking crazy things about you. In this business you have to accept that they disrespect you and you have to smile and pretend that everything is okay. But Denzel told me a few minutes ago, 'at your highest moment be careful, because that's when the devil comes after you, '” said Will Smith.

However, given the recent statements of Paul Rodríguez, it is necessary to highlight the inconsistency between the actions of Will Smith and his public apologies, since its conduct is totally contrary to the image that it strives to maintain.

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