Fat Joe, the executive producer of BET Hip-Hop Awards, revealed to People that he attempted to convince Will Smith to perform at the Oct. 10 show.
The “Lean Back” rapper wasn’t sure how Willy from Philly would have been received given his 2022 Oscar debacle, where he slapped presenter Chris Rock and was banned from the Oscars for 10 years. Smith, 55, has kept public appearances to a bare minimum since attacking Rock.
Fat Joe, 53, was hyped about the Oscar-winning actor potentially performing his 1991 mega-hit “Summertime.” Although it would have been a surprise if he had pulled it off, Smith turned it down as his schedule didn’t allow the time necessary to perform.
“He’s filming Bad Boys,” Fat Joe said.
“But we tried. We try to pull off a miracle if we can. We try to pull a cloud out of the sky.”
Before the show aired on BET, Fat Joe promised to pull out all the stops in his return as the award show host.
“It’s going to be sick. Overall, it’s a dream come true for me. It’s the second year I’m doing the Hip-Hop Awards, but I always think back to being in junior high and doing the talent shows and then Apollo Theater Amateur Night and it all leads to this. And so it’s an honor for me.”
Fat Joe recently returned to his hometown borough of the Bronx to donate over $100,000 in clothing to kids for the current school year, including sweatsuits, tracksuits, t-shirts, shorts, and sneakers on Sept. 2 as he hosted a back-to-school clothing drive at The Eagle Academy for Young Men.
He made the same gesture at I.S. 219 New Venture School and at the elementary school he attended as a youngster, P.S. 146 Edward Collins.
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