You know when a celeb who is knee-deep in a scandal agrees to appear on Jada Pinkett
Smith’s Red Table Talk, the tea is about to be served…
So what exactly is the appeal in spilling it all to the Smith women?
There’s an effect sweeping Hollywood and we’re breaking it all down right now.
Not long before Jada Pinkett Smith, her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris and her daughter
Willow Smith began tackling the latest media scandals, they sat around a red table in hopes
of getting to learn about the inner-workings of their own selves as individuals and as
a family.
Adrienne opened up to the New York Times last year, explaining that Red Table Talk was nothing
more than an open space for Willow to learn more about her mother and grandmother’s
relationship.
It wasn’t until their first-ever video, posted to YouTube in June of 2013, which garnered
upwards of 31,000 views, sparked an even bigger idea, now having grown into a successful confessional-style
Facebook Watch series in which celebrity guests join the ladies in candid, judgement-free
conversations.
Red Table Talk has since gone on to achieve global success, and has even tacked on award
nominations, including a 2020 Daytime Emmy nod, and more recently an NAACP Image Award
for Outstanding Talk Series.
From relationship experts and suicide attempt survivors to celebrities caught up in the
latest scandals, there truly is no topic of conversation off limits as each of these topics
are meant to start larger conversations and bring awareness to the big issues at hand.
But by no means are these tri-generation women trying to compete with the likes of other
successful talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey or Ellen Degeneres, in large part because
there truly is no competition.
The show officially kicked off in May of 2018 as Jada previously explained to The Hollywood
Reporter QUOTE, “I've really been using this as the opportunity to be more vulnerable,
be more open, put down the mask and so regarding things that hurt,” adding that the goal
was to simply “create a safe space.”
And throughout the show’s successful run, Jada has proved just that, as there was a
lack of raw, unfiltered conversations as many talk show hosts don’t typically take the
time to dive deep into difficult topics and allow discussion from multiple viewpoints.
Take Jordyn Woods, for example.
If you hadn’t yet heard about Red Table Talk, you definitely did once she agreed to
appear in her first tell-all just weeks after being involved in the infamous 2019 cheating
scandal that allegedly caused Khloe Karadashian and Tristan Thompson to call it quits, as
well as Jordyn’s friendship with Kylie Jenner.
Although Jordyn’s family has been close with the Smith family since her late father
was a sound engineer on the Fresh Prince in the ‘90s, it still took massive amounts
of courage to speak out on a platform that would soon be making its way to millions.
Neither Jada nor Jordyn held back on explaining everything that went down the night she and
some friends hung out at Tristan’s house until the wee hours of the morning, as Jordyn
confirmed that they kissed but denied that anything else happened.
“Never once was I giving him a lap dance, making out with him, sitting all over him…
But on the way out, he did kiss me.”
Jordyn admitted that she never meant to break up a family, and that her biggest regret was
the dishonesty that came when she spoke to Khloe after Tristan’s party, telling Jada,
“I had talked to Khloe and she asked me what was going on.
I was honest about being there, but I wasn't honest about the actions that had taken place.”
Later on, Jada admitted that although she was skeptical about inviting Jordyn to the
table, she ultimately felt that Jordyn needed this opportunity to speak her peace.
But the red table isn’t just for guest appearances… back in July of last year, fans were shocked
to hear that Jada would volunteer as tribute to bring HERSELF TO THE TABLE!
Jada came to the red table after rumors surfaced she cheated on her husband Will Smith with
their son Jaden’s friend August Alsina.
You’re probably recalling the whole “entanglement-gate” right about now, which is exactly what Jada
was referring to when she tweeted on July 2nd QUOTE, “There’s some healing that
needs to happen…so I’m bringing myself to The Red Table.”
This all started after August revealed during an interview the same month that he and Jada
did have a relationship in which Will gave his “blessing” while he and Jada were
separated.
After denying the rumors that Will was okay with this, both Jada and Will hashed out what
actually went down back in 2016 at the Red Table, but Will quickly called Jada out for
essentially trying to sugarcoat their relationship:
“And then I got into an entanglement with August, that’s what I said.”
“An entanglement?”
“Yes.”
“A relationship.”
“Yes, it was a relationship.”
The episode went on to break Facebook records with around 35 million views in less than
a week, and served as a refreshing, eye-opening conversation about a couple navigating their
marital issues in the public eye.
Another highly anticipated interview went down back in December when Olivia Jade Giannulli
sat down with the RTT ladies in her first-ever interview since her parents Lori Loughlin
and Mossimo Giannulli were imprisoned for their role in the infamous 2019 college admission
scandal.
Even before Olivia even sat down, the decision to allow her to speak out on RTT raised a
bigger topic of discussion as Adrienne expressed her stance on Olivia, a white woman, asking
three Black women to reach out for her redemption story.
She said QUOTE, “Her being here is the epitome of white privilege to me,” to which Jada
responded by saying, “This is a practice of compassion.
To me this young girl is reaping the repercussions of some actions of her parents.”
Olivia ended up coming clean about her family’s mistakes and that there have been many conversations
between them about their wrongdoings.
“I think that what hasn’t been super public is that there is no justifying or excusing
what happened, ‘cause what happened was wrong.
And I think everyone in my family can say that was messed up that was a big mistake.”
She also explained that by no means did she come on this show to victimize herself, adding
QUOTE, “I don't want pity — I don't deserve pity.
We messed up.
I just want a second chance to be like, ‘I recognize I messed up.’”
Like Olivia, this safe space has allowed many to take accountability, and do so without
feeling judged for their past actions.
According to Jada, the ladies truly take this time to QUOTE “...take off your mask, and
whatever persona you created on Instagram or Facebook.
Take it off and leave it to the side for 20 minutes.
I'm just hoping that it will give people permission to just be real.”
Speaking of talk shows, click right over here to see how the Ellen Degeneres show has been
impacted since the toxic workplace scandal.
Then be sure to let me know which RTT episode you found to be most interesting right down
here in the comments.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys.