Will Smith foots $100G bill for New Orleans Independence Day fireworks

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Will Smith showed his generous side on Sunday, as he paid a staggering $100,000  to cover the cost of New Orleans’ Independence Day fireworks.

The Hollywood nice guy is currently working in New Orleans on his new film Emancipation, and decided to get involved in the 4th July celebrations after learning that officials hadn’t planned a 2021 fireworks display due to financial constraints.

There also wasn’t a display in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Smith was determined to ensure that the Go 4th on the River event would return to the Mississippi River this year so, alongside his production company, he opted to pick up the tab – estimated to be around $100,000.

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“The gift of city fireworks was made possible by actor and producer Will Smith, along with his company Westbrook, who is in production on the feature film Emancipation here in New Orleans,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement. “The City also wishes to acknowledge the support of the Riverfront Marketing Group for helping to make the event happen.”

In Emancipation, Smith will play a slave who escaped plantation life after he was whipped to within an inch of his life and joined the Union Army.

A photo of his whipped back, taken during an Army medical examination, became known as The Scourged Back. It was published by The Independent and Harper’s Weekly in 1863, and helped give abolitionists proof of the cruelty and barbarity of slavery in America.

Filming was originally due to start in Georgia, but Smith moved production to Louisiana after Georgia passed a new law that prompted a federal lawsuit stating that the overhaul had been intended to deny Black voters equal access to the vote.