Will Smith has been banned from the Oscars for the next 10 years following his slap of comedian Chris Rock at the March 27 Academy Awards.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences voted on April 8 to ban the King Richard actor from all Academy events for the next decade, multiple outlets are reporting.
Academy votes to ban Will Smith from events for the next decade
Although Smith resigned from the Academy on April 1, the organization’s board nonetheless decided to move forward with a formal ban.
“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,” Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson wrote in a letter shared with members (via Deadline).
The letter noted that while the 2022 Oscars “were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year … those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage.”
In the letter, Rubin and Hudson also expressed “deep gratitude” to Rock for “maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances.” They also apologized for the way the incident was handled during the live broadcast.
“During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room,” they wrote. “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.”
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