The actor tapes the racing driver to a chair in an apparent scheme to take the wheel for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
A video appears to show Will Smith kidnapping Lewis Hamilton so that he can win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in his stead.
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The tongue-in-cheek video sees the Formula One driver, who has already secured this year’s championship, duct taped to a chair whilst actor Smith says he will take the wheel for the final race of the season.
“Lewis I’m sorry… here’s the deal, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me man,” Smith says in the video. “You already won man, save something for other people.
“Listen, you’re black, I’m black nobody gonna know the difference.”
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The video closes with Hamilton shouting “you better win” at Smith.
Hamilton was at least on pole for the race in the United Arab Emirates, giving Smith something of a fighting chance if he had raced, and the video follows a post to Instagram by the 50-year-old actor of the pair together.
Hamilton’s half-brother and fellow racing driver Nicolas Hamilton responded on Instagram to the video: “Bro can’t believe you got to act with Will!!! So sick.”
Smith was attending the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to congratulate Hamilton and joined him on the starting grid and was even invited to wave the chequered flag at the end of the race.
Hamilton went on to win the race, rounding off his fifth title-winning championship with victory.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 120 children have been kidnapped by jihadist insurgents in northern Mozambique in recent days, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, warning of a rise in abductions in the country's troubled Cabo Delgado province.
The children are reportedly being used by an Islamic State–linked group known locally as al-Shabab to transport looted goods, perform forced labor, and in some cases serve as child soldiers or be forced into marriage.
Mozambique has been battling the Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2017. Government forces have struggled to contain the violence, relying on support from troops sent by Rwanda, South Africa, and other regional partners.
In 2020, the insurgents carried out a wave attacks in which they beheaded dozens of people, including children. Witnesses have said that children abducted from towns and villages have been used as fighters in subsequent attacks.
The violence has displaced more than 600,000 people and spilled into neighboring provinces, according to the United Nations.
Human Rights Watch said there had been a resurgence of attacks and child kidnappings in the last two months and called on Mozambique's government to do more to find the children and prevent further abductions.
The problems in Cabo Delgado were largely overshadowed by Mozambique's deadly and long-running post-election protests last year. Cabo Delgado has also been battered by several recent cyclones and hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump's cuts to foreign aid.
The Norwegian Refugee Council's Secretary General, Jan Egeland, visited Cabo Delgado this month and described the situation in northern Mozambique as a neglected crisis.
“Climate shocks, increasing violence and spiralling hunger are having a terrible impact on the population,” Egeland said.
The NRC said more than 5 million people faced critical levels of hunger and more than 900,000 people faced emergency hunger conditions.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
FILE - In this image made from video, a Mozambican soldier rides on an armored vehicle at the airport in Mocimboa da Praia, Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique, Aug. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Marc Hoogsteyns, File)
