That famous shot of Will Smith and his family? It wasn’t what you think.

That famous shot of Will Smith and his family? It wasn’t what you think. September 2, 2013

The evidence, from HuffPo: 

During the act, Twitter exploded with commentary about the performance. One topic that gained major traction was a photo of Smith and his kids, Jaden and Willow, supposedly reacting to Cyrus. Their faces of shock and horror appeared to say it all.

The image was picked up and shared by outlets like BuzzfeedUs WeeklyBusiness Insider and Yahoo! News. However, it turns out the Smiths weren’t reacting to Cyrus at all.

The MTV audience cam, which was focused on the crowd all night, shows the Smiths were actually reacting to Lady Gaga’s opening performance of “Applause.” A look back at the feed also shows they weren’t even too shocked by the 27-year-old pop star’s scantily clad dance. Jaden’s confused look was just some intense concentration. Willow’s open mouth was caused by her gum chewing. What looked like a gasp was actually just a nose scratch.

Check out the link to see.


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