Actor Will Smith pays for July 4 fireworks in New Orleans

Associated Press

3 years ago

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, file photo, U.S actor Will Smith poses for photographers during the photo call of "Bad Boys for Life," in Paris. Smith is ready to open up about his life story. Penguin Press announced Sunday, June 20, 2021, that Smith will release his memoir called “Will” on Nov. 9. The actor-rapper shared a photo of the book’s cover art to more than 54 million followers on Instagram. Smith said he is “finally ready” to release his memoir after working on his book for the past two years. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Fireworks are returning to New Orleans on Independence Day thanks to actor Will Smith.

Smith is picking up the roughly $100,000 tab for the pyrotechnics over the Mississippi River after learning New Orleans didn’t plan a 2021 show, city officials told news outlets.

New Orleans canceled last year’s fireworks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Smith is in New Orleans working on his latest film “Emancipation,” which will tell the story of a slave, Peter, who escaped a Louisiana plantation and whose photo of scars on his back from being whipped exposed the brutality of slavery. He would also fight for the Union in the Civil War.

Smith moved production of the film 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.