Will Smith impersonator Shad Ellis has revealed he’s been getting more offers and jobs after actor King Richard’s infamous Oscars slap.
According to The Sun, the 43-year-old double opened up about his booming business: “I’ve had more inquiries and bookings this week than I have in a long time.”
“It’s that old saying that any publicity is good publicity, right?” the Bedford native told the outlet.
“Requests are flooding in all the time… I’ve also gotten offers for things that involve slapping them in the face, like, ‘can you talk about this product and say if they don’t buy it, then they’re going to get slapped in the face?’ face’, but I have rejected all that because I don’t want to be disrespectful to the situation.”he explained.
However, Ellis said he hasn’t accepted any gigs for ‘kicking someone when they’re down’.
“It’s not always about the money… what was most important to me was my relationship with someone I’ve been impersonating for so many years, that’s part of my life now.”he expressed.
“I can’t do anything that could be seen as disrespectful to the situation because I’m ready to work with him in the future and I don’t want to burn my bridges.”Ellis added.
Will Smith’s Double Chance
Ellis, who has been posing as a Will Smith impersonator for the past 25 years, was considering pulling the plug on his doppelganger act before the controversial feud triggered booking demand.
The surge in demand has included a swarm of requests on personalized video messaging website Cameo, with fans offering to pay him more than $90 to say “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth”as Smith warned Rock .
Ellis told The US Sun that he was also offered more than $5,000 by a social media influencer with 29 million followers who wanted to take him to Los Angeles to film a parody of the Smith-Rock raid.
“I’ve had more inquiries and bookings this week than I have in quite some time,” said Ellis, from Bedford, UK.