To promote Emancipation, the movie based on a true story about a man’s journey from Louisiana to the North in order to escape the slave trade, Will Smith, who stars in the drama movie, has offered a two-month free trial on Apple TV Plus for those interested in watching.
“I’ve been reading a lot of the comments and seen a lot of people saying that they don’t have Apple TV Plus,” he said in the video posted to his Instagram page. That’s unacceptable to me, so I went to Apple and I was like, ‘Yo, my people, you know, we got the film, but we need to have Apple TV Plus.’ So, I got two months free of Apple TV Plus for everybody to watch Emancipation on Apple TV Plus.”
Speaking to Fox 5, Smith previously said that he would “completely understand” if fans were reluctant to see his new movie in light of him slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars earlier this year. The incident, which occurred after Rock, a presenter at the awards ceremony, made a joke about Smith’s wife, led to the actor being banned from future Academy Award ceremonies for a decade, with Smith also taking it upon himself to resign from the Academy as a member.
“If someone was not ready, I would absolutely respect that and allow them their space to not be ready,” he said. “My deepest concern is my team. The people on this team have done some of the best work of their entire careers. And my deepest hope is that my actions don’t penalize my team. So at this point, that’s what I’m working for. That’s what I’m hoping for. I’m hoping that the material, the power of the film, the timeliness of the story — I’m hoping that the good that can be done would open people’s hearts, at a minimum, to see and recognize and support the incredible artists in and around this film.”
Emancipation is available to watch in theatres and streaming service Apple TV Plus now.