Slap to Chris Rock | Will Smith banned from the Oscars for 10 years

Le Conseil des gouverneurs de l’Académie des Oscars a annoncé vendredi après-midi le bannissement de Will Smith pour 10 ans.

André Duchesne
La Presse

À compter du 8 avril 2022, et pour une période de 10 ans, l’acteur ne pourra participer à aucun évènement de l’Académie, « en personne ou virtuellement », qu’il s’agisse de la cérémonie des Oscars ou non. Par contre, l’Académie n’a pas fait mention d’une quelconque interdiction pour l’acteur de prétendre à de futures statuettes.

Cette décision fait suite à la gifle que l’acteur a assénée au présentateur Chris Rock, qui venait de faire une mauvaise blague à l’endroit de sa femme, le soir du 27 mars sur la scène du Dolby Theatre.

« La 94^e édition de la cérémonie des Oscars était censée être la célébration de nombreux représentants de notre communauté [le cinéma] who have done a colossal job over the past year. However, these celebratory moments were greatly overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior of Mr. Smith on the stage,” the decision reads.

“I accept and respect the Academy’s decision,” Will Smith replied in a brief written statement.

The leaders of the Academy have also shown self-criticism by claiming that they have failed to respond adequately to this situation which caught them off guard. President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson apologized for failing to do so.

Recall that Will Smith stood up and violently slapped Chris Rock after the latter made fun of the shaved head of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who is losing her hair due to alopecia, an autoimmune disease. As he sat down again, Will Smith shouted: Keep my wife’s name out of your f**** mouth! »

Less than an hour later, Smith won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Richard Williams in the film. King Richard, on the rise of sisters Venus and Serena Williams in the world of professional tennis. A few days later, the actor apologized and resigned from the Academy (thus losing his right to vote). But the organization had meant that his gesture would not go unpunished.

The organizers also thanked Chris Rock for maintaining his composure in what they call “extraordinary circumstances”.

Apologies that were late

It wasn’t until the Academy announced an internal investigation into the incident that Will Smith issued an apology to Chris Rock and the organizers. He had previously pleaded to have reacted in an “emotional way” to a “joke about Jada’s health problem”.

Last Friday, by finally announcing his resignation, Will Smith admitted to having “betrayed the confidence of the Academy”. “I deprived other candidates and winners of the chance to celebrate their extraordinary work,” he said.

“I will accept all the consequences that the board of directors deems appropriate,” he added in his text.

Voices were raised to demand that Will Smith be stripped of his Oscar, but others pointed out that neither Harvey Weinstein, a former Hollywood mogul convicted of rape and sexual assault, nor director Roman Polanski had been forced to return their statuettes after being expelled from the Academy.

The day after the incident, the actress Whoopi Goldberg herself had considered that this eventuality was unlikely concerning Will Smith. “There will be consequences, I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they will do, especially since Chris Rock has decided not to press charges,” she told the newspaper. television.

For his part, the comedian has not spoken publicly about this incident. “I’m still digesting what happened. So at some point I’m going to talk about this stuff. And it will be serious and funny, ”he said on March 30 at the start of a show.

— With Agence France-Presse