Oscar 2022 | Academy condemns Will Smith’s actions, launches review

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences condemned it on Monday Will Smith’s actions during Sunday night’s Oscars and launched an investigation into the slapping of presenter Chris Rock.

In a statement on Monday, the film academy said: “The Academy condemns Mr. Smith’s actions on last night’s show. We have officially begun a formal review of the incident and we are committed to complying with our bylaws, standards of conduct and California law.” Further action and results will be ascertained accordingly.

The fallout of Smith’s onstage attack continued on Monday, as Hollywood and the public continued to wrestle with a moment that stunned the Dolby Theater crowd and audiences at home, and may have been at the Academy Awards. All others – even the gold-standard flub, envelopegate – may have been surpassed. slander

Smith shocked the Dolby Theater crowd and the audience at home when he took the stage during a remark to The Rock after the comedian joked about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock said, “More, I love you. Can’t wait to see ‘GI Gen 2’.”

The joke touched a nerve. Pinkett Smith, who has a shaved head, has spoken publicly about her alopecia diagnosis. Smith stepped onto the stage and slapped Rock in the face. Back in his seat, Smith yelled twice for The Rock to “get my wife’s name out of your mouth.” His words clearly resonated throughout Dolby, though ABC cut the audio for about 15 seconds. Within an hour, Smith won the Best Actor award. During his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy.

After the show on Sunday night, the Academy posted a statement condemning the violence. The Los Angeles Police Department said on Sunday that it was aware of the incident but was not investigating because the person involved refused to file a police report.

Some members of the Academy, such as writer-producer Marshall Herskowitz, called on the Academy to take disciplinary action against Smith.

“They defame our entire community tonight,” Herskowitz wrote on Twitter.

Whoopi Goldberg, a member of the Academy’s board of governors, said on “The View” on Monday: “We’re not going to take that Oscar from him. There will be consequences, I’m sure.”

A sense of disbelief at the Dolby Theater flew into the air after Smith’s attack, and it didn’t end on Monday. Not only was it a hard-to-fathom break with the decorations on live national television – an event so dramatic, even film-like, that many initially assumed it was a staged bit – It seemed wildly out of character for Hollywood’s most relentlessly excited stars.

It all happened less than an hour after Smith probably reached the climax of his career, winning his first Oscar for Best Actor.

“In a way, I feel bad for Will Smith too, because I think he let his feelings get the better of him, and it must be one of the great nights of his life,” said former Oscar host Jimmy on the Bill Kimmel told Simmons’ podcast. “And now it’s not. Was there anyone in the world who didn’t like Will Smith an hour ago? Like nobody, right? He doesn’t have a single comedian friend anymore—that’s for sure.”

Some questioned whether Smith should have been allowed to sit front and center after hitting The Rock. Several stars reached out to advise and soothe Smith, including Denzel Washington, Bradley Cooper and Tyler Perry. But the timing was also awkward as the Best Actor category was soon to come, and Smith had long been considered a lock for the award.

NAACP president and director-at-lawyer Janai Nelson wrote, “I know we’re all still processing, but the way casual violence was normalized tonight by a collective national audience will have consequences that we are in this moment.” I can’t even understand.” Legal Defense Fund, on Twitter.

Smith’s representatives did not immediately return a message on Monday.

According to two sources close to the production, who were not authorized to speak publicly, the jokes that provoked Smith during rehearsals before the show were not part of The Rock’s routine.

The Rock had previously made fun of Pinkett Smith. He hosted the 2016 Oscars after some were boycotting the ceremony over the #OscarsSoWhite group of nominees, including Smith. The Rock said: “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”

Backstage in the press room, where Winner takes some questions from the media, the Academy tries to suppress questions about the incident, at one point stopping Jessica Chastain from talking about it.

But that didn’t stop that moment from the heavy conversation in and after the Oscars. Some came to Smith’s defense, including Tiffany Haddish, who co-starred with Pinkett Smith on “Girls Trip.”

“Maybe the world didn’t like how it went down, but to me, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it convinced me that there are still men out there who love what they love about their women, their wives.” And care,” Haddish told People magazine.

Meanwhile, Smith was photographed having fun with his family outside the Vanity Fair party. Inside, cell phone video captured him dancing to “Gettin Jiggy Wit It” while holding the Oscars. His son Jaden tweeted: “And here’s how we do it.” On Instagram, Smith posted: “Me ‘n Jada Pinkett Smith all set to pick up the chaos.”

The play overshadowed some historic wins at the Oscars. The deaf family drama “Koda” became the first film with a large number of deaf actors to win Best Picture. For the first time ever, a streaming service, Apple TV+, took Hollywood’s top honors, signaling a profound shift in Hollywood and film. Ariana DeBos of “West Side Story” became the first Afro-Latina and first openly LGBTQ actor to win Best Supporting Actress.

But as shocking as Smith’s slap was, it wasn’t surprising that such an important moment in the actor’s life would come into the public eye. Especially in recent years, Smith has been the most outspoken of the stars. While Pinkett Smith’s Facebook series “Red Table Talk” has been a platform for broadcasting family drama, Smith chronicles their journey in the YouTube series “The Best Shape in My Life”, which features Smith as a parent. Including documenting an episode discussing his regrets in the form. with his children.

Smith also co-wrote with personal-development writer Mark Manson, the memoir “Will,” published earlier this year. (It jumped Amazon’s sales ranking to No. 32 on Monday.) In it, he described how he was molded by his loving but hard-drinking and militaristic father. In one chapter, he remembers as a 9-year-old when he saw his mother hit him. The guilt of not protecting his mother, Smith wrote, left him with complex emotions that he associates with fueling his own rise in show business. When his father was elderly and confined to a wheelchair, Smith admitted that he felt an urge to push him down a ladder.

Smith last said in an interview with the Associated Press, “My personal journey into the depths of the joys and sorrows of my past is certainly helping me expand and create a more emotional toolbox that allows me to play more complex characters. will be allowed to portray.” ,

For Smith, playing Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena in “King Richard,” brought all these deep feelings together — and it won him an Oscar. It may have even forced his actions on Sunday.

“Art imitates life,” said Smith while accepting the award. “I look like a mad father, as he said about Richard Williams.”