WILL SMITH GETS 10 YEARS BAN FROM OSCARS BY ACADEMY OVER CHRIS ROCK SLAP INCIDENT
Last Updated on April 9, 2022 by Andrea Sharma
Oscar Winner actor Will Smith has been banned from attending the Oscars and for the next ten years two weeks after Smith lost his cool and barged onto the stage to slap the comedian anchor Chris Rock.
Will Smith is also not allowed to attend any other events held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over the next ten years.
The Board of Academy did not say anything about revoking the best actor award which Smith won last month for King Richard, neither did they put a ban on the actor for his future Oscar nominations.
The Board has put forward a statement regarding the ban on Mr Will Smith, which says:
“The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards,” wrote president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson.
The board members of the Oscar Community came together as a body earlier on Friday to take a concrete decision on the matters, the board then decided on some actions which are to be taken against the award-winning actor Will Smith. Board members such as Steven Spielberg and Whoopi Goldberg are among those invited to rule on the actor’s fate.
The meeting of the top brass from Hollywood’s leading industry was originally set out to expel or suspend Smith from the group but the actor resigned from the community way before that.
The actors or participants do not need to be members of the Academy community to receive nominations or win awards. And the Oscar nominees and the winners are voted for by the members of the Board of Oscars.
Will smth’s action on the night of March 27, 2022, during the live television broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards, stunned the whole world and eclipsed the true essence of the Academy awards ceremony where a lot of people from different backgrounds come and win awards.
This year itself, people from different marginalised communities won the biggest awards of all time and still couldn’t reach the mainstream because of this incident.
“The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behaviour we saw Mr Smith exhibit on stage,” the Academy letter wrote.
It also went on to say “This action we are taking today in response to Will Smith’s behaviour is a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy. We also hope this can begin a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted.”
Some fans from the social media and members had also called for Smith to be stripped of his best actor award which he won for his brilliant performance in the Tennis biopic King Richard.
But, taking away his Oscar was unlikely and would have been unfair because the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski did not have their Oscars revoked when they were expelled from the Academy in the wake of sexual assault scandals.
This year’s Best Actor winner is supposed to be presenting the award for the following year’s best actress award, the honour which Smith will not be granted next year.
The Oscar-winning Actor Will Smith went up to the stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face because the comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Actress Jada Pinkett Smith who has alopecia, a hair loss condition.
Rock was asked by the Los Angeles Police if he wanted to file a case against Smith, but he declined.
“During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room,” said Friday’s letter from Academy chiefs.
“For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short — unprepared for the unprecedented.”
The letter also thanked Rock for “maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances.”
Smith also apologised to Rock saying his actions at the Oscars as “shocking, painful and inexcusable,” and then resigned from the Academy days later.
“I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate,” said Smith
Who Is Will Smith?
Willard Carroll Smith II, also known by his stage name the Fresh Prince, is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. The53 years old American award-winning actor.
Smith has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and four Grammy Awards.
He is only the fifth Black man to win the movie world’s highest individual award for an actor.
Some of his notable works are, The Pursuit of Happyness, Men In Black, King Richards etc,
