Laverne Cox defends mentioning ‘entanglements’ to Jada Smith at the SAGs


Laverne Cox is one of the new red carpet correspondents for E! News, along with Yvette Nicole Brown. She’s fun, she gets excited to talk to people, she knows a lot of people and she’s entertaining. Kaiser and I talk about her on the new podcast that’s out tomorrow morning. During her interview with Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, Laverne said toward the end “We love you, thank you for all years of joy you’ve brought us. We can’t wait for more Red Table Talk and more… entanglements.” It was funny and Will and Jada laughed while Jada said “no more entanglements.” Laverne echoed that adding “no more entanglements.” You can see that video below and the entanglements part starts around 2:20.

That was of course a reference to Jada’s infamous July, 2020 Red Table Talk episode with Will, where she opened up about an affair she had with one of her son Jaden’s friends, August Alsina, in 2015. Jada talked about the affair, which was supposedly with Will’s blessing during a break in their marriage, after August went public with it. These two brought the word “entanglement” into the public discourse with that episode, much like Gwyneth Paltrow got everyone to talk about “conscious uncoupling.”

It’s hard to think about Red Table Talk and not remember the word “entanglement,” which is what Laverne did, she just said it out loud. Some people thought it was shady that she brought it up though, which is understandable. Laverne defended herself on Instagram Live and you can see that video here. She said she thought it was funny and that “there’s just love there.” I’m going to quote Insider because they did a good job of transcribing it.

Laverne Cox said that she didn’t mean to “mock” Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith by bringing up Pinkett Smith’s extramarital “entanglement” on the SAG Awards red carpet.

Cox addressed the remark in an Instagram livestream…

Cox said she had heard that people thought her remarks were “tasteless” and “tacky,” pushing her to hold herself “accountable” and “critically reflect” on the comment.

“I love ‘Red Table Talk,’ and I love what the Smiths have done with ‘Red Table Talk,’ and I think my error is that I had so many things I wanted to say to the Smiths, and we didn’t have time,” Cox said.

“I wanted to say so much to them, about not just the film, but about their just, œuvre, and what they’ve done with ‘Red Table Talk’ specifically,” she continued. “And so when I said I’m looking forward to more ‘Red Table Talk’ and entanglements, I thought that was funny.”

Cox said that she had not apologized to the Smiths, and that her addressing the remarks, which she said were a “love letter” to the couple, was not to be constituted as such. She said that if the Smiths need an apology from her, she would address it “privately.”

“My intent was not to mock, or make fun of, but obviously I understand there’s a difference between intent and impact,” Cox said.

[From Insider]

If you watch it again, it’s not bad! The Smiths put it all out there and she’s just telling them she loves it. She didn’t get into the details and all she did was use the word “entanglements.” Yes it was bold but she referenced their most popular episode. Given all the gaffes we’ve seen from other red carpet interviewers, particularly Ryan Seacrest and the way he was regularly rude to celebrities like Brad and Angelina, this wasn’t bad and wasn’t ill-intentioned. I don’t think the Smiths were offended.

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16 Responses to “Laverne Cox defends mentioning ‘entanglements’ to Jada Smith at the SAGs”

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  1. YaGotMe says:

    Eh, it was intended to be a gotcha comment and to generate buzz and traffic. Yes, they put it in the public domain but it does feel a teensy bit icky to hit them with it on a red carpet. I fall on the distasteful but not the end of the world side.

    I absolutely do love the comment about the difference between intent and impact – actually I love everything about her response.

    ETA: That pic of the two of them together is fire.

    • tealily says:

      I completely disagree. It’s not a “gotcha,” it’s just a quote. She’s promoting their show with a touch point that most of the public has with it. I’ve never seen the show, but I know the term and the context. This is exactly how a red carpet appearance is supposed to work and Laverne is doing her job well.

    • Christine says:

      Totally agree, tealily. There is no way to throw shade at a couple who has already vomited their various family issues on Red Table Talk. What’s shocking about Laverne Cox playing on a theme the Smiths want to be known for? Nothing.

  2. Izzy says:

    If Jada Pinkett-Smith didn’t want people to bring up the fact that she slept with her son’s friend, she should have kept quiet about it. Not every detail of your marriage needs to be made public.

    • ElleV says:

      exactly – Jada made this part of her public narrative on purpose and it’s not rude to use Jada’s own words to say that you love what she’s doing when the whole reason she shared the experience was to normalize a taboo topic

      no one had a problem with discussing that Red Table episode when it aired – why should we now pretend like it never happened?

  3. Noki says:

    Why make a video to say you are not apologising!? And it was made in public so why if the Smiths want an apology why should she do it in private and i doubt they remember her name. It was the wrong time and place, and frankly people take Wills character and goofiness for weakness she would never pull that with Samuel L or Denzel.

    • ElleV says:

      i don’t see a problem with engaging with criticism – it’s not like the only valid responses are apologies or silence

  4. Southern Fried says:

    The crap jada and will put out themselves make them fair game.

  5. Otaku fairy says:

    The guy she hooked up with was the first one to discuss the entanglement, right? If so, that does change the ‘she put it out there’ narrative a little bit, if one person is only talking about a sexual relationship because the other person blabbed about it first. Unless I’m remembering it wrong.

    That being said, the way Laverne is handling the reactions is very mature, even though I don’t really think she did anything wrong. The anti-SJW trolls are probably itching to somehow make this about The Pussification of Murrica and wokeness gone 2 pharr though. I can already see them doing some stretches.

    • ElleV says:

      I agree the dude putting her on blast is a factor to consider, especially if (for example) she had made a brief statement and moved along or asked for privacy or ignored the issue

      that said, doing a whole talk show thing around it as part of her brand as a truthteller and breaker of taboos gives a pretty clear green light for public discussion

  6. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    “…but about their just, œuvre,…”

    Love her.

  7. Erin says:

    I just have to say Jada looks amazing, wow.

  8. jferber says:

    Laverne defines glamour.

  9. Sandy says:

    I just wanted to add that, Jada didn’t bring up the entangledment, the guy did, it was embarrassing to her, she had to address it because it became unavoidable,, it happened awhile ago, she addressed it to move on, and then at her husband honered celebration, Lavern brings this up? So unprofessional and thoughtless.

    • Coco says:

      No she really didn’t let it go, for a two years her and Will went on and on to discuss the sex life. About how bad she think Will is in bed and why she looked for other people to sleep with so on and so on. Not to mention they both constantly talk about how unhappy they in their marriage, hell it was even a part of his book.

      Let not brush off what she did as a “ entangledment” she took advantage of her son friend when he was mentally unwell and dealing with the death of a loved one not to mention he was sexually abused as a child which ass to he trauma.

      • Southern Fried says:

        Yes let it not be forgotten jada had a sexual relationship with her own kid’s friend. Loathsome.