Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry at the 95th Annual Oscars 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images, Kevin Winter. All rights reserved.
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Halle Berry presented the Oscars for Best Actress and Best Actor in place of Will Smith along with Jessica Chastain. Due to his 10-year ban from the Academy Awards for beating Chris Rock at last year’s event, Smith was unable to continue the actual tradition of last year’s winners handing over the trophy to the new ones.
Chastain won the coveted category for The Eyes of Tammy Faye in 2022, and Berry also won Best Actress for Monster’s Ball in 2002. While it is actually the lead actor who hands over the Oscar to the lead actress and vice versa, this year the two actresses formed a team that included both Brendon Fraser for his role in The Whale and Michelle Yeoh for her performance in the night’s big winner Everything Everywhere All at Once” awarded.
“The actions we are taking today in response to Will Smith’s behavior are a step toward a larger goal, which is to protect the safety of our artists and guests and restore trust in the Academy. We also hope that this can begin a period of healing and recovery for all involved and affected,” the Academy said of the sanction. Smith then resigned from the Academy.
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