I peruse the internet pretty frequently, so I’m no stranger to unprovoked cruelty. In fact, some have surmised that all of us as a culture have become desensitized to it. Be that as it may, I was still left flabbergasted after reading an article from New York Post critic Kyle Smith entitled, ‘Any Parent Would Be Ashamed of Will Smith’s Kids’. Like WTF? This type of vitriol should be saved for people who stole everything out of your home while you were on vacation or something. But for a couple of teenagers that you haven’t met and who have no direct impact on your life?
To be honest, I think that Will and Jada’s kids are a bit weird and say things that are a bit “out there.” But with all due respect, Mr. Smith, who the hell do you think you are to question on such a public forum what someone else does with the children that they themselves have made? Are you paying Will and Jada’s property taxes? School tuition for their children? Paying for acting and singing lessons? Hell, even for one dinner at In N Out Burger? No? Well if that’s the case then I don’t think you have much of a say in how these people raise their children.
Also, I’m very confused. Can you refresh my memory a bit, Mr. Smith? How many pending court cases do Willow and Jaden have against them? How many times have they been out and captured by the paparazzi drinking and doing hard drugs for the world to see? How many times have they been to rehab?
I’m not gonna call Smith a racist or anything like that, but I do find it quite interesting that he has such a laser-like focus on Will and Jada’s children when kids like Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Miley Cyrus’ sister Noah have all seen more clubs than the inside of a golf bag. These kids are also regular fixtures on sites like TMZ. But do we see even a modicum of the scorn for their parents from Smith as we see from him for Will and Jada’s parenting abilities? How ass-backwards and completely twisted is it for Smith to turn a blind eye to actual bad parenting and instead choose to chastise non-traditional parents like Will and Jada for allowing their kids to do and say what they think will make them more mature and informed adults?
What Mr. Smith does not realize is that the very thing that he has attributed to narcissism, I would refer to as raising independent thinkers and empowering their children to do whatever they put their minds to. At a time where people of color have been repeatedly told that they do not matter, whether that be through media or other institutions in this country, how is it that he has a problem with these parents trying to reverse this trend with their own children?
Also Willow and Jaden do have actual, legitimate jobs. Willow just released her debut album a few months ago. Jaden was just announced as the new face of Louis Vuitton’s spring and summer collections. So now, instilling self-confidence and the value of hard work in your children counts as crappy parenting? You say any rational parents would be horrified at how Will and Jada are raising their children. But children working hard and having lucrative, high-profile jobs quite honestly sound like any rational parent’s dream. Either you’re just plain old bitter and wrong or you wrote this article while on vacation in bizarro world.
What Mr. Smith does not realize is that the very thing that he has attributed to narcissism, I would refer to as raising independent thinkers and empowering their children to do whatever they put their minds to. At a time where people of color have been repeatedly told that they do not matter, whether that be through media or other institutions in this country, how is it that he has a problem with these parents trying to reverse this trend with their own children?
Seriously, why does it bother you so much to see these two black kids doing great things and brimming with such self-confidence? I’ve seen interviews with Jaden and Willow and they sound like what you would think 15-year-olds who are thrust in the spotlight would sound like.
The biggest non-surprise of this whole debacle is that Mr. Kyle Smith himself has zero children. That’s right. The man who is admonishing people for how they raise their children does not have any of his own.
It’s clear that Smith has concocted a ridiculous double standard for parenting in Hollywood, and the distinction has a lot to do with the amount of melanin these parents have. Smith talks about parents being ashamed of the way Will and Jada raise their kids. What it boils down to is that people like Kyle Smith will always try to contort logic to denigrate people of color, no matter what the circumstances are. That is ultimately something that down the line he has to square with his god when that time comes. But in the meantime, we can at least call him out for such wack writing and try to ensure that he never tries to stifle black empowerment ever again.
