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Will Smith Has Finally Responded To That Bungee Jump Picture

Will Smith Has Finally Responded To That Bungee Jump Picture

He looks exactly like Uncle Phil

Mark McGowan

Mark McGowan

There are very few things that can trigger feelings of nostalgia better than an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

A true staple of our younger years for many of us, the adventures of Will Smith were the best entertainment anyone could ask for, as he moved to his wealthy aunt and uncle's LA pad after getting into a fight in his hometown of Philadelphia - and the relationship between Will and his Uncle Phil, played by James Avery, provided many of the show's funniest moments.

In fact, Uncle Phil had so much of an influence on Will's fictional adolescence that the movie star is now morphing into him in real life.

Recently the 48-year-old bungee jumped at Victoria Falls, something he's been meaning to do for 20 years or so, but it's a still image from his jump that has caught people's attention.

In the image, hanging upside down by the bungee cord, he looks the spitting image of Uncle Phil/James Avery.

Credit: Reddit

Will was asked about the picture at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, where he was promoting Netflix film Bright.

He responded with a rather odd yet poetic anecdote about the change in the world over the last 30 years, comparing the development with celebs to the comments on the picture.

"It is such a new world," he said, via Uproxx. "I released my first record in '86, so I'm over 30 years in the business. My first album there were no CDs, so it wasn't until my second album, and they came like these hot new things called CDs. Seeing that transition, essentially the fans being more and more involved in the creative process. In terms of movie stars, it's a huge difference. It's like you almost can't make new movies stars anymore.

"It's like there's a certain amount of privacy and there was a certain amount of distance that you had from the audience, and only on July 4th did you have access.

"So that amount of access created this bigger-than-life kind of thing. But in the shift into this new world, it's almost like a friendship with the fans. The relationship is less like the time of Madonna, Michael Jackson, when you could make the Tom Cruise these gigantic figures, because you can't create that anymore.

"The shift is to 'we're best friends,' and that's like with the comments and with those pictures and all that."

The picture was originally uploaded to Reddit back in March, and the image has since gone viral.

It's so hard to sum up just how perfect this is. I mean, is that a rainbow in the picture, too? This is everything.

Obviously, you want to see the full video, so have a butcher's here...

Credit: Storyful

Just brilliant.

In the show, Phil was hard on his nephew, but only because he had the wisecracking youngster's best interests at heart.

Their strained yet close relationship culminated during the fourth season of the show, in the Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse episode.

It introduces us to Will's dad, Lou, who returns after 14 years to see his son. Uncle Phil remains cautious throughout Lou's time with Will, thinking that he will once again disappoint him. Will opposes his uncle somewhat, overcome by the emotion of having his dad back.

Towards the end of Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse, in a right fucking tear-jerker, Will learns that Lou is leaving again.

"How come he don't want me?"

Credit: Warner Bros/Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

It was then apparent that Phil would remain the only father figure in Will's life, although outside of the show, Avery sadly passed away in 2013 from complications following open heart surgery. He was also known to millions as the voice of Shredder from the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

Featured Image Credit: Reddit/Storyful