Reggaeton superstar J Balvin is proud to have played a small role in Will Smith’s Hollywood comeback.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Colombian singer opened up about his decision to invite Smith to join him onstage at the Coachella music festival in April. The performance in the California desert drew major buzz given the very public fallout for Smith about two years earlier for slapping comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.
“Will Smith has always been one of my biggest idols. Period,” J Balvin told the magazine. “I feel really connected with him. You cannot judge a person for some mistakes. A mistake cannot define who you are because if it’s like that, we all are bad.”
He went on to note: “[With] what happened with Will Smith, I felt his pain because I was going through a similar situation when I felt that some part of the world was against me for mistakes.”
Footage of J Balvin’s Coachella set shows Smith appearing in full “Men in Black” regalia to perform his smash 1997 song from the movie of the same name.
Arturo Holmes via Getty Images
Together, he and J Balvin danced in front of a projected backdrop of alien heads, flanked by a troupe of dancers dressed as green extraterrestrials.
Though J Balvin did not specify what he meant by a “similar situation,” some news outlets suggested he may have been referring to the criticism he received for his 2021 music video “Perra,” in which he was seen tugging at two Black women on leashes.
“I think if there’s someone that has been through darkness and light publicly at this moment, it’s Will Smith,” J Balvin said. “My inner child was screaming to have him in my show because there was no one better than him.”
Smith’s surprise appearance at the festival was well-received by critics and fans alike. It’s also widely perceived to have jump-started his career after the Academy Awards altercation, which resulted in him being banned from the ceremony for 10 years.
In June, he returned to the big screen alongside Vanessa Hudgens and Martin Lawrence in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and unveiled a new single, “You Can Make It.”