Actor Will Smith will no longer be able to attend the Academy Awards, or any other event organized by the Academy of Oscars, for the next ten years. This is the decision announced by the Academy this Friday, almost two weeks after the 2022 ceremony during which the American actor slapped comedian Chris Rock, one of the presenters of the evening, on stage. The latter had just made a joke about the wife of Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
“Mr. Smith will not be permitted to attend any Academy event or program, in person or virtually.”, whether or not it is the Oscars, and with immediate effect, wrote in a press release the board of directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which met on Friday morning. The Academy has accepted Will Smith’s resignation, which he tendered last week, but didn’t take him away from the Best Actor Oscar received last month for “The Williams Method”.