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Actor Will Smith donates $100K to ensure New Orleans’ Fourth of July fireworks fly

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Will Smith In this Jan. 6, 2020, file photo, actor Will Smith poses at the 'Bad Boys For Life' launch in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Smith donated $100,000 to cover the costs for the city of New Orleans to host its annual "Go Fourth on the River" fireworks display. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images) (THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

NEW ORLEANS — The skies above New Orleans glimmered with pyrotechnic panache Sunday, and local residents have actor Will Smith to thank for the patriotic Fourth of July display.

Smith, who has been filming “Emancipation” on location in the Crescent City, recently donated $100,000 to cover permitting, public safety, equipment fireworks and more for New Orleans annual “Go Fourth on the River” celebration after learning city officials had nixed plans for the 2021 display, WWL-TV reported.

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Riverfront Marketing Group told WWL-TV that the extravaganza’s planning typically takes months but came together in just 72 hours, thanks to Smith’s generosity.

“When the folks called me, they said, ‘Will Smith wants an A-plus show.’ said, ‘Well, he’s getting an A-plus-plus show. This is gonna be spectacular,’” David Spear, of AFX Pro LLC, told the TV station.

In fact, Spear said New Orleans’ 2021 “Go Fourth on the River” will be about three times larger than the average year’s celebration and is definitely the biggest of his 42 fireworks displays planned around the South this week, WWL-TV reported.

“We’re gonna step on the accelerator when 9 o’clock hits, and we’re not gonna remove our foot from that accelerator for 18 and a half minutes,” Spear said. “It is gonna rock, and it’s gonna be loud. And all the sound reverberating off of the skyscrapers downtown - it’s just magnificent.”

Smith moved production of “Emancipation” from Georgia to Louisiana in early April after Georgia passed a new voting law that prompted a federal lawsuit saying the overhaul was intended to deny Black voters equal access to the ballot, The Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, the city of New Orleans issued the following statement to WWL-TV:

“While he [Will Smith] and the production have been in town preparing to film, [he] has fallen in love with the City of New Orleans and wanted the citizens and visiting tourists to enjoy the annual celebratory firework display.”

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Fourth of July 2021 Fireworks explode over Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol, at the National Mall, during the Independence Day celebrations, in Washington, on Sunday, July 4, 2021 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (Jose Luis Magana/AP)



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