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Jada Pinkett Smith Says All Eyez on Me’s Depiction of Her Friendship With Tupac Is “Deeply Hurtful”

Jada Pinkett Smith.

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On what would’ve been Tupac Shakur’s 46th birthday, All Eyez on Me, the eagerly anticipated (but not actually good) biopic about his life that was 20 years in the making, is finally in theaters. Friends and collaborators of the rapper have reportedly approved of the film, including Snoop Dogg and Digital Underground’s Money-B (who appears in the film as himself). Not everyone is happy about it, though. Part of the reason for the feature’s delay is the troubled production behind the scenes that led to a slew of writers and directors cycling in and out, including Poetic Justice filmmaker John Singleton, who has had some less than kind words to say about the film as of late.

Now Jada Pinkett Smith, a close friend of Tupac’s, has also come out against All Eyez on Me, criticizing the creators for the way in which they dramatized their relationship, as performed by Kat Graham and Demetrius Shipp Jr. In a series of tweets, she points out a few inaccuracies, including an early scene in which he reads aloud a poem he wrote for her just before leaving Baltimore to head to California.

Pinkett Smith’s friendship with the late rapper has long been a soft spot for their fans, who have admired their deep love for each other, and so it’s hard not to wonder what her opinion on this subject might do for the film’s box office. (In the comments under that thread, some fans have already taken her words as a reason to skip out on seeing the movie.) In the moving video below, an emotional Pinkett Smith discusses Tupac and calls him a “brother, father figure.”