Will Smith surprises cancer-stricken teen with a PlayStation 5 before its official release

Hollywood superstar Will Smith found the most heartwarming way to lift the spirits of a teen who's been through a lot this year. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star teamed up with his pal Jason Derulo to set up a special surprise for a 14-year-old named Aiden who was diagnosed with cancer in April this year. To kick off season 2 of Smith's Will From Home Snapchat series, the celebrity duo was able to join forces with GameStop to get the teen a PlayStation 5; arguably one of the hottest items this holiday season.

According to Metro, due to pandemic restrictions, Aiden's father Chuck has not been able to be by his son's side during chemotherapy treatments in Fort Worth, Texas. Wanting to raise his boy's spirits this holiday season, Chuck reached out to Will and Jason who hopped on a video call with the teen. Chatting virtually with Aiden and his dad, the celebs put on a dancing tutorial for their audience while giving the teen a chance to show off his dance moves. They then showered the youngster with a ton of cool gaming gifts including the coveted PS5 which hadn't yet been released to the public at the time of filming the episode.

"That's the PS5 — you can't even get those yet!" Will shouted as Aiden raised the box above his head and let out a roar. According to ComicBook, aside from the PS5, GameStop gifted the teen a DualSense controller and a gift card for the storefront to buy a bunch of new games for the console. To add to the festive cheer, the company also agreed to donate $5,000 to the Cook Children’s Medical Center while Smith himself matched the donation, bringing the total to $10,000 given to charity.

The Suicide Squad actor's original series Will From Home — which was launched in April — features Smith talking to his family, special guests like Tyra Banks, and everyday people from a socially distanced hangout set up in his garage. Speaking to Hollywood Reporter at the time of announcing the series, Snap head of original content Sean Mills revealed that the idea for the show came out of conversations between Snapchat and Smith's production company, Westbrook Media, about how "new forms of creativity and new ways to tell stories" could arise from the constraints imposed by the global shutdown.

"Will was feeling a lot of pent-up creative energy and was excited to do something with it in a new and different way," Mills added. The series is part of Snapchat's response to the pandemic which includes a dedicated section for coronavirus-related news and updates from partners on its Discover platform. "Our first reaction was to shore up the news coverage and really deliver on that," Mills said at the time. "But after a week-and-a-half or so, we started to see a huge surge in interest in entertainment content, especially humor and comedy."

"The kinds of things that the community wants are things that are positive, that feel empowering. It’s not just about escapism but it’s about actually what is the good that can come of a challenging moment in time. Will From Home fits perfectly with that," he added. Meanwhile, for Smith — who has been quite active on social media in recent years — Snapchat was the obvious next step. He has been a huge hit on YouTube where he has 9 million followers and has displayed a certain knack for unearthing the endless entertainment possibilities of social media platforms.