Will Smith Barred From Attending Oscars for 10 Years After Slap

Before Mr. Smith resigned, the organization had been considering expelling or suspending the actor, who walked onto the Oscar stage in the middle of the ceremony and slapped Mr. Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, before returning to his seat, where he shouted expletives that were bleeped out of the live television broadcast. Mr. Smith was allowed to remain in the Dolby Theater, and soon after his outburst he won the Academy Award for best actor, and received a standing ovation.

Conflicting accounts of what happened after the outburst have plagued the academy, which has been criticized for not immediately removing Mr. Smith from the theater. The group, in its defense, said last week that they asked Mr. Smith to leave but he refused.

The telecast’s producer, Will Packer, later said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that although Mr. Smith had been asked to leave the ceremony, Mr. Packer had urged the academy leadership not to “physically remove” him from the theater in the middle of the live broadcast.

Mr. Packer said that after he learned there were discussions of plans to physically remove Mr. Smith from the venue, he approached academy officials and told them that he believed Mr. Rock did not want to “make a bad situation worse.”

But someone close to Mr. Rock who was granted anonymity to speak while the academy’s inquiry into the incident was underway said that Mr. Rock was never asked directly if he wanted Mr. Smith removed.

The punishment handed down on Friday means that Mr. Smith will not be allowed to attend any of the events hosted by the academy, including the Governors Awards, which are devoted to honorary Oscars and are not televised, and the annual academy luncheon, which celebrates each year’s nominees. He will also be barred from screenings the academy holds. He would presumably still be able to attend the private parties thrown each year by studios, or magazines including Vanity Fair, if he is invited.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/movies/will-smith-slap-academy.html