What happened after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at Oscars 2022?
Remember the slap? You know the slap that reverberated around the world? The slap that has become the most talked-about 'event' at the Oscars 2022? Of course you do, but just in case you have been completely off the internet for the past week, Will Smith, husband to Jada Pinkett Smith and Best Actor Oscar winner for 2022, slapped comedian-host Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage.
During his presenter speech, Chris cracked a rather insensitive joke about Jada's hair loss condition, alopecia. The joke was, "Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can't wait to see it, alright?"
It was a reference to the 1997 film GI Jane, where Demi Moore sports a buzzcut while playing the title role of GI Jane.
The joke led to Will Smith walking up on stage and slapping Chris. (READ MORE HERE: Oscars 2022 went viral for that Will Smith slap. 10 highlights)
THE ACADEMY REACTS: The incident has the world divided, but the Academy Awards are clear on where they stand. A day after the incident, on March 28, the Academy tweeted, "The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world."
The Academy does not condone violence of any form.Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
But a simple tweet wasn't enough for an incident of this scale.
So, the Academy’s board of governors met on March 30 and said that they have now begun 'disciplinary proceedings' against Will for violating the Academy's standards of conduct. The standards that he violated are: "inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behaviour and compromising the integrity of the Academy."
The Academy also said in a statement that they did ask Will to leave the event right after the incident, but Will did not leave. They said, "Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated. While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognise we could have handled the situation differently."
The board clarified that they will be taking action in the next meeting, that will be held on April 18, and Will is allowed to defend himself in writing. The probable actions that could be taken against him are: Will's membership suspension and/or expulsion from the Oscars. Most think that his Best Actor Oscar, the only Oscar he has won so far, could be taken away. But Whoopi Goldberg doesn't think so.
The actor and member of the Academy’s board of governors, Goldberg said during US talkshow The View on March 28, "We’re not going to take that Oscar from him. There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’ll do."
Although Will's apology to Chris was pretty weak, the Academy's wasn't. They said, "Mr Smith’s actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television. Mr Rock, we apologise to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment. We also apologise to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event."
CHRIS REACTS: Chris began his comedy tour on March 30 in Boston's Wilbur Theatre, which was completely sold out. He went onstage and asked the crowd how their weekend was and when the entire audience stood up to give him a standing ovation, with tears in his eyes, he simply said, "Let me be all misty and s***. I don’t have a bunch of s*** to say about that, so if you came here for that...I had written a whole show before this weekend."
View this post on Instagram
He continued, "I’m still processing what happened, so at some point I’ll talk about that s***. It’ll be serious. It’ll be funny, but right now I’m going to tell some jokes."
Seems like it isn't a great day (week, month?) to be Will Smith!