Looking back at your younger self and cringing is kind of a rite of passage in the age of social media. That must be doubly true for celebs and public figures who find fame at a young age and have to navigate their awkward years under the intense glare of the public eye.
Celebs like Jaden Smith, for example, whose whole life has been a very public one.
An interview moment from 2018 has resurfaced and taken Twitter by storm with people roasting him. Jaden wasn't about to let Twitter have all the fun, though.
He hopped in with a self-own.
If ability to laugh at yourself really does keep you sane in those situations, Jaden Smith is doing just fine.
The Jadenisms at the center of this article happened during an interview with LA radio personality Big Boy. The interview was recorded and video has been circulated now; but way back in 2018 when it happened, this was a predominantly audio experience for folks.
At this point, Jaden had already earned himself a reputation for being unusual - and being very willing to share his thoughts with the world. His penchant for strange tweets is legendary and goes back as far as 2012.
2018 Jaden was right around 20 years old at the time of the interview. He spent a fair bit of time talking to Big Boy about why he doesn't spend time with people his age.
Jaden, clearly taking himself very seriously at the moment, explains:
"I am very happy that I spent my childhood with more adults than I did with kids my own age because I was picking up more things from adults than I were from kids my own age. And I lok and I go around and hang out sometimes with other people my age and they're just ..."
At this point Jaden breaks into an impression of other 20 year olds, flailing his arms and making faces as he puts on what could best be described as a faux-surfer accent.:
" *garbled sounds* Broooo look at my phone! Selfie!"
Continuing in his normal voice:
"and I'm just, like, dude, like, oh my god. Can we talk about, like, the political and economical state of the world right now? Can we talk about what’s going on with the environment? Can we talk about other things?”
The moment was a brief talking point in 2018, but it's looped back around to public consciousness thanks to Twitter and Jaden's ability to laugh at himself. Like we said, he seems to be doing just fine.
This video clip of the moment popped back up.
LMFAOOO jaden smith is not realpic.twitter.com/7wI5OyA3OE— kira \ud83d\udc7e (@kira \ud83d\udc7e) 1650216111
It re-launched the conversation ... most of which was a little on the roasty side.
Jaden when kids and young adults just want to have fun and not feel any more depressed than they already are https://twitter.com/kirawontmiss/status/1515742347379851264\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/sB5T104DpT— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1650315821
"can we talk about the political and economic state of the world" https://twitter.com/kirawontmiss/status/1515742347379851264\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/ER0Cs3mE4h— nat (@nat) 1650308498
bro literally said it in the most protentious way possible, that\u2019s why people are clowning him, and rightfully so. cool, you want to change the world but people don\u2019t want to hear all that as a kidpic.twitter.com/hE9s5ibWvI— Gabe Soto (@Gabe Soto) 1650242939
Nepotism babies are always so fake deephttps://twitter.com/kirawontmiss/status/1515742347379851264\u00a0\u2026— Jajhira (@Jajhira) 1650285055
jaden smith so much more mature than peers \n\njaden smith:pic.twitter.com/BVrezMVTDe— Tito (@Tito) 1650283227
Unfortunately Jaden, when u talk bout that kinda stuff & your parents aren\u2019t rich it just leads to depressionhttps://twitter.com/kirawontmiss/status/1515742347379851264\u00a0\u2026— Cait\u2600\ufe0f (@Cait\u2600\ufe0f) 1650432509
His homies when he tries to talk about the political economic state of the worldpic.twitter.com/2Q3y3tUfF5— CapnJaay (@CapnJaay) 1650240173
"Playing tag is so cringe, can we please talk about politics?" https://twitter.com/kirawontmiss/status/1515742347379851264\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/6STX09lVdn— Jin \u2e38\ud83d\udc0d Red Sun Over Paradise\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Jin \u2e38\ud83d\udc0d Red Sun Over Paradise\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1650290885
This was me as a kid, literally annoying asf and all my parents friends were like \u201cwow ur kid is the best\u201d. Wearing a purse at 9, heels to high school, discussing war & the social and political state of the world before I could drive. Hit my 20s & regressed bc I had no childhood— \u262eSelina\u2654 (@\u262eSelina\u2654) 1650224952
Jaden Smith when he sees kids going to birthday parties instead of discussing politics and the economic state of the world:pic.twitter.com/3dACXFAPwQ— Haadyn (@Haadyn) 1650226045
Jaden smith on his way to curse out his kindergarten classmates for not understanding the complexities behind the current political climatepic.twitter.com/zWTWyEMe5b— Armando\ud83c\uddfb\ud83c\uddea (@Armando\ud83c\uddfb\ud83c\uddea) 1650323284
Let's be honest for a moment here, if the whole world was roasting you do you think you'd be able to just laugh along with them like Jaden has?
Laugh on, Jaden.