Jaden Smith isn’t letting any criticism — no matter how harsh — get to him. The artist wore a castle headpiece at the 2025 Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, and in a viral clip posted by rapper J French on Instagram, French calls him “retarded” to his face as he walks by in the get-up.
In the clip, French calls out, “Jaden, Jaden, you look retarded bro.”
Jaden did acknowledge him and took the jeer in stride, cheerfully responding, “Oh, thank you.” He also gave a thumbs-up.
French captioned in the video, “My bad @c.syresmith, that was love. Nobody around you told you so I had to.”
But Smith had plenty of supporters in the comments, with plenty of people roasting French for his own outfit that consisted of overalls with one strap undone, a blue button-up, and a red bowtie.
“Saying this while dressed like Donald Duck…..” one comment reads, which garnered over 113,000 likes.
“Bro hating from outside the club,” another commented.
“You’re wearing overalls with an undone strap with a red bow tie. You look like an actual clown,” yet another comment reads.
While Smith has yet to comment on his bold look that stole the show at the Grammys red carpet, the maker of the vampire castle hat — ABODI Transylvania in collaboration with artist Szilveszter Makó — explained the meaning behind it in an Instagram post.
ABODI Transylvania presents an artistic headpiece that seamlessly merges the enigmatic aesthetic with contemporary design elements related to Transylvanian heritage and the Bathori vampire mythology, according to company statements.
Company founder Dora Abodi vocalized through Instagram that fashion and music create artistic spaces where individuals freely express their creativity to enjoy life while experiencing art completely. Visitors flock to the now-renowned ABODI Transylvania Vampire Castle to admire its representation of courage alongside tenacity and willingness to celebrate superstitions and mythologies.
Smith did give some insight into his bold choices in an interview with Complex in December.
“Sometimes it’s so frustrating to watch people try to follow the normal thing to do and that’s not what they really want to do in their art and everything,” he said. “So I actively try to be myself.”