Will Smith Dealt With A Tarantula In His House... Or Did He?

Will Smith and his son, Trey, found themselves face to face with a tarantula.

If they had been hiking through the desert or canoeing down the Amazon, running into a tarantula wouldn't be that unusual. It's a different matter when you stumble across a giant arachnid in the comfort of your own home.

But here is why Will Smith, star of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Independence Day, and the 94th Annual Academy Awards, makes the big bucks. When the rest of us would've thrown anything within arm's reach at the eight-legged intruder, the only word on Will Smith's mind was "content."

The Smiths had a two-pronged plan for how to deal with the spider. First, Trey Smith was tasked with placing what looks like a candy dish over the spider. Then Will came in to slip a piece of paper under the dish.

Sound methodology for sure.

It would appear that the tarantula in the house crisis was safely averted ...

Unless it was a set-up the entire time.

Could The Tarantula Have Been A Plant?

There's no doubt that we're looking at a genuine spider, but I'm skeptical that it got into the Smith mansion on its own accord.

Unfortunately, the video ends before we find out what happened to the tarantula. Was it thrown outside? Flushed down the toilet? Driven to a nearby wilderness preserve?

Because the video is open-ended, there's a chance we're dealing with an elaborate ruse.

If Smith needed to get some positive attention after the whole Oscars fiasco, then a viral video would do the trick. It was one of the first things Smith has posted to social media that wasn't a groveling apology since his hand made contact with Chris Rock's face.

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that just off camera is a Hollywood tarantula wrangler. The kind of guy with khaki shorts, a thinning ponytail, and a vial of anti-venom in his pocket.

Once Will was done vamping and holding up the trapped tarantula, he could've just handed it over to the tarantula wrangler who put it back in its tank until it was time for the next gig.

If he faked the encounter, it's a high-risk, high-reward ploy. If it works, he managed to get some positive publicity.

However, if it was fake, Will Smith becomes the guy who slapped Chris Rock and then faked the video about the spider in his house.

That'd be a bad look.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.