About

Will Smith TADA or Will Smith Presenting refers to a viral image of actor Will Smith showing off or presenting his wife Jada Pinkett Smith during a red-carpet event at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2007. The image has been used as an object-labeling meme, with Will Smith having been used as both an independent exploitable and a redraw meme since as early as 2010, continuing to see Photoshop edits into the 2020s.

Origin

The original photo was taken at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted on January 28th, 2007.^[1] The picture, taken during the event's red-carpet segment, shows Will Smith spreading his arms and gesturing towards Jada Smith while looking directly at the camera, as if to present her or show her off.

According to a reverse image search on TinEye,^[5] the earliest memetic example of the image comes from a post to the site Imgfave on December 5th, 2010, but it has since been lost. However, on December 24th, an image macro meme labeling Will Smith as a "Level 20 Wizard" was shared in a listicle about funny celebrity pictures.

Spread

Though the event had taken place years earlier, the image began circulating on various websites and social media platforms in the years that followed as people began using it in memes and jokes.

The meme began to gain significant traction starting in 2011. An early example, posted to Reddit on July 12th, 2011, by Redditor itsalwaysyou to the /r/pics^[2] subreddit received 1,100 upvotes in 15 years.

Another example, posted to Imgur with the caption, "Will Smith knows how to introduce a lady," by a now-deleted user on December 15th, 2011, received about 1,300 likes in roughly 15 years.

Eventually, exploitable versions of the image would begin to spread to other social media platforms such as Twitter / X and Tumblr.

According to TinEye,^[4] the earliest indexed instances of the exploitable version of the meme appear to be from 2014, though many of the Twitter and Tumblr accounts associated with the posts, and many of the posts themselves, have since been deleted.

The meme persisted and continued to see use throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s due to its universal template and wide applicability for various interests, characters, fandoms or celebrities.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References