# Will Smith and Adolf Hitler **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754 "2008-03-01T18:13:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/61 "2008-03-03T19:15:48Z")
No. Never heard of the film. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/62 "2008-03-04T01:55:52Z")
I got it, and I think it’s stupid. Why is it that in America, revile is better than understanding? Why do we cling to the hate? He could have vilified and bad mouthed Hitler in a hateful way and he would have been applauded. Why is understanding worse than the perpetuation of hate? I believe Will’s statement was just the Truth. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/63 "2008-03-04T02:20:15Z")
…but obviously I haven’t read the article nor the OP apparently. I see that the Triumph of the Will reference was a witticism. Please don’t hate me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/64 "2008-03-04T02:20:18Z")
Reviling is more fun than understanding. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/65 "2008-03-04T03:39:27Z")
Yep, and speaking as a headline writer, “I wish I had written that.” ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/66 "2008-03-04T05:49:27Z")
Jawohl, Mein Fuhrer. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/67 "2008-03-04T14:11:29Z")
Yes. Not a clever or witty allusion at all. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/68 "2008-03-04T14:17:35Z")
Meant to add: Here’s [an article.](http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/25/people.willsmith.ap/) And here’s the actual quote: > [@article](#): > > In a story published Saturday in the Daily Record, Smith was quoted saying: "Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good.’ " So, how could anybody be stupid enough to think that means he was praising Hitler? I don’t know, but apparently some folks are: > [@article](#): > > Over the weekend, dozens of celebrity gossip Web sites posted articles about the comment, many saying that Smith believed that Hitler was a “good” person. And the reasonable response from Smith: > [@article](#): > > “It is an awful and disgusting lie,” Smith said in a statement Monday provided by his publicist. “It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation.” About sums it up. How could you not get angry at that level of stupidity? ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/69 "2008-03-04T14:35:03Z")
Clever bit, that. I got it, btw. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/70 "2008-03-04T20:54:16Z")
I got it. Triumph of the Will Smith would have been a good line even without the Nazi connection. Just this morning I was listening to a radio discussion on leadership. The guest was saying that although we value leadership in itself, there is no guarantee that leadership is going to end well. He used Hitler as en example of an excellent leader, but with a not-so-nice goal. No-one misinterpreted him - can’t have been a headline in it. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754/71 "2008-03-05T00:35:32Z")
I used to be an avid watcher of Siskel & Ebert, so I learned about Leni Riefenstahl years ago from one of their shows. Of course I get it, but it’s sort of chance I suppose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-smith-and-adolf-hitler/439754.md?page=3)