Will Smith’s punishment for his violent outburst at last month’s Academy Awards has been revealed in a statement from the Academy, which announced that the actor is being banned from attending ceremonies run by the Academy for the next ten years. The decision was made by the Board of Governors today in a meeting in Los Angeles, who earlier were reported to be split on how to deal with Smith in the wake of the incident and his resignation from the Academy last week. Almost two weeks on from the moment that Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s shaved head, the news of Smith’s punishment will likely seal off the incident.
In a statement obtained by CNN, the Academy said:
The meeting to decide what action would be taken against Smith was originally planned to take place later this month, but following the actor’s decision to resign from the Academy, they decided to bring everything forward to bring the whole thing to a close as quickly as possible.
“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. 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 behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage. During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. 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."
Will Smith Has Already Seen Fallout From His Oscars Outburst, Despite His Apologies
In the week following the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith found himself being publicly ridiculed in internet memes, condemned by his peers and the Academy, and this led to a number of upcoming projects faltering in the fallout. A biography about the actor’s life was seemingly abandoned, Netflix stepped back from two projects that were set to star Smith, and development of Bad Boys 4 was allegedly put on pause.
Smith issued an apology following the incident, in which he described his moment of madness and talked of his shame at what he had done to bring disrepute to the event. The actor subsequently said sorry again when he announced that he was resigning from the Academy as he did not feel it appropriate to stay a member in light of what he did.
Throughout the media headlines and many opinions, there have been calls for criminal charges to be brought against Smith and for his Best Actor Oscar he won on the night to be rescinded. However, Chris Rock declined the option of pressing charges against Smith following the incident. Based on the statement of the Academy, there will be no action taken to remove Smith’s award from him, and this is where the whole debacle reaches its end.
