Will Smith Gets Enormous Punishment From The Academy
Uh oh.
This article is more than 2 years old
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) Board of Governors has made its decision on how it will punish Will Smith for slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage at the ceremony on March 27. The King Richard star is keeping his Best Actor Oscar, but he won’t be making any more Oscar acceptance speeches for a while. Staring from today’s date, April 8 2022, Will Smith is banned from appearing virtually or in person to any and all AMPAS events — including the Oscars — for ten years.
The next time Will Smith will be able to get a standing ovation at the Oscars or slap anyone upside the head during the ceremony will be sometime in 2033. That’s the word from AMPAS today, as reported by NPR. In a letter sent out today, they called Smith’s behavior at the ceremony “unacceptable and harmful.” The decision, the letter says, is “a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy.” They ended expressing the hope that we will see “a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted.” Earlier in the letter, the board praises and thanks Chris Rock “for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances,” as well as expressing similar sentiments about the hosts and presenters.
Not long after the announcement, Deadline reported Will Smith had issued a brief but succinct response to the judgement. The statement said “I accept and respect the Academy’s decision.” Deadline noted that the board — which currently includes Whoopi Goldberg, Laure Dern, Ava DuVernay, and Steven Spielberg among others — was relatively limited in what kind of decision they could make, owing to Smith’s April 1 resignation from AMPAS.
Deadline reports that of the punishments that were discussed during to the AMPAS board’s deliberations, perhaps the harshest possibilities included “a fine or even a lawsuit for staining the Oscar brand.” However, unlike some reports suggested, Deadline claims taking his Oscar away was never on the table.
There are reports that Will Smith has entered a luxury rehab retreat facility while seeking professional help to handle the stress from the fallout of the slap. And there is quite a bit of fallout building up. Production on two movies Smith is meant to lead — Fast and Loose and Bad Boys 4 — have been put on hold. In a couple of cases, Smith projects that were reportedly put on ice long before the Oscars — including a Deadshot movie — are being reported as canceled in the wake of the slap. Apparently studios are just making sure we all know stuff was canceled. Pretty soon we’ll hear Wild Wild West 2 was canceled.
One guy is even preemptively blaming Will Smith for either an alien invasion or a missed opportunity to make trade agreements with Vulcans. Ufologist Nick Pope is concerned that alien beings monitoring our television broadcasts will make their decisions on how to invade us, introduce themselves to us, or eat us based on the 2022 Oscars. You’d think the 10 year ban would be enough, but now we’re blaming Will Smith for Mars Attacks.
In case you’re wondering — yes, Will Smith can still be nominated for an Oscar award and potentially win one during his ten year ban. That’s what The Independent is saying, at least. He simply can’t show up to accept it if he wins. Maybe Chris Rock could pick it up for him?
