Will Smith gets a street named in the Philadelphia neighborhood where he was born and raised

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In West Philadelphia where he was born and raised, now there’s a street called Will Smith Way.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and city leaders honored the Oscar and Grammy winner on Wednesday, renaming a street next to Smith's old high school.

“Philly, I love you. I am yours. You are mine,” Smith said at a ceremony along a section of 59th Street that now bears his name.

He reminisced about learning the values of hard work and education from his mother and father before hitting it big as an actor and rapper.

“Nobody gets an easy ride,” he said. “That was one of the things these streets of Philadelphia taught me: that there's nothing wrong with a hard day's work.”

Among those who came out to see him was a former teacher who was the first to call him “Prince Charming” — a nickname he changed up a bit for the 1990s TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” in which Smith played a teenager from Philadelphia who goes to live with relatives in Los Angeles.

“The name `The Fresh Prince' was coined in that building," Smith said, pointing back at Overbrook High School. “I added the ‘fresh’ because it was hip-hop slang."

Smith will release his fifth studio album “Based on a True Story” on Friday. It’s his first music project in two decades since “Lost and Found.”

He won Grammys for “Summertime,” “Men In Black,” “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” He's also starred in the movies “Bad Boys,” “Men in Black” and “King Richard.”

At right is Julian L. Graham, Principal Overbrook high school presents actor and rapper Will Smith with school jacket during a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Will Smith acknowledges fans as he prepares to leave after a ceremony naming a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Will Smith with mother Caroline Bright attends a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Philadelphia Actor and rapper Will Smith stands with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker during a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Will Smith holds up a street sign during a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

A sign at the intersection of North 59th Street and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia has been renamed after Will Smith on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (WPVI-TV via AP)

Will Smith poses for a portrait on Monday, March 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Vote counting was underway Friday in Uganda’s tense presidential election, which was held a day earlier amid an internet shutdown, voting delays and complaints by an opposition leader who said some of his polling agents had been detained by the authorities.

Opposition leader Bobi Wine said Thursday he was unable to leave his house and that his polling agents in rural areas were abducted before voting started, undermining his efforts to prevent electoral offenses such as ballot stuffing.

Wine is hoping to end President Yoweri Museveni's four-decade rule in an election during which the military was deployed and heavy security was posted outside his house near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after the vote.

The musician-turned-politician wrote on X on Thursday that a senior party official in charge of the western region had been arrested, adding there was “massive ballot stuffing everywhere.”

Rural Uganda, especially the western part of the country, is a ruling-party stronghold, and the opposition would be disadvantaged by not having polling agents present during vote counting.

To try to improve his chances of winning, Wine had urged his supporters to “protect the vote” by having witnesses document alleged offenses at polling stations, in addition to deploying official polling agents.

Wine faced similar setbacks when he first ran for president five years ago. Museveni took 58% of the vote, while Wine got 35%, according to official results. Wine said at the time that the election had been rigged in favor of Museveni, who has spoken disparagingly of his rival.

Museveni, after voting on Thursday, said the opposition had infiltrated the 2021 election and defended the use of biometric machines as a way of securing the vote in this election.

Museveni has served the third-longest tenure of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military, which is led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station, during the presidential election, in the capital, Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Election officials count ballots after the polls closed for the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

An election official holds up unmarked ballots during the vote count after polls closed for the presidential election, at a polling center in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A political representative speaks as he works to observe and verify the counting of ballots after polls closed in the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A supporter of leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine cheers while watching election officials count ballots, after polls closed at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)