Will Smith responds to Aladdin backlash: Trying to get used to social media scrutiny

Disney’s live-action Aladdin that features Will Smith in the role of the blue Genie, didn’t receive the reactions it was hoping to. As the makers released the first few photos of the upcoming adaptation, Smith and director Guy Ritchie received immediate backlash over Smith’s look in the film. It even generated several memes on the internet as netizens mocked the Genie look.

Will Smith as Genie in Disney's Alladin. Image via: Twitter.

In a recent interview with Empire, Smith revealed his thoughts on the backlash.

“It was very funny,” Smith said about the response to his Genie. “There was a Sonic the Hedgehog / Genie frog. Everything is under such critical scrutiny. I came up in an era where there was no internet. It’s a new thing that I’m trying to get a handle on.”

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Ritchie told the publication that the audience’s reaction to Smith’s look from the film improved for the better after they dropped its official trailer in March.

“It even came with apologies from the cynics who were so adamant initially,” the director said and added, “I’ve never seen apologies in that world. I thought, ‘Oh well, great, we’re back to where I’d hoped we’d be.’”

But according to a report in Indie Wire, not much changed after the trailer release. The footage shown at CinemaCon had people calling the ‘Friend Like Me’ scene "nightmare fuel," which is similar to social media’s reaction ever since the first pictures released. However, Disney says the footage shown at the event was still not 100 percent finished.

Aladdin will open in theatres on 24 May.