Will Smith veto Oscar Academy Hollywood slap Chris Rock

When Will Smith announced his resignation from the Hollywood Academy last week, he left the institution without one of the biggest punishments with which they could have punished the slap he gave Chris Rock at the last gala of the Oscar. after the comedian did a bad taste joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldnessthat suffers alopecia. The Academy’s board of governors, however, has found a way to add other consequences for Smith for his action.

This Friday, after a almost three hour meetingthat board made up of 54 members, including heavyweights like Steven Spielberg, Ava DuVernay, Laura Dern and Whoopi Goldberg, has decided veto Smith for ten years from the Oscars and other events of the institution, both in person and virtual.

The decision means, among other things, that Smith, awarded this year as Best Actor for his work in ‘The Williams Method’will not be able to continue next year the tradition of awarding the statuette to the best actress.

What the decision doesn’t seem to affect is Smith’s potential to to be nominated again, or even win again, in the next decade. The official communication from the Academy issued this Friday about the sanction does not mention that exclusion, which was one of the possible punishments, since the rules of the institution stipulate that among the sanctions that can be imposed is “losing temporarily or permanent ‘eligibility’ to receive Academy Awards.

Smith, who closed his controversial speech on the day of the Oscars saying: “I hope they invite me again”, he reacted immediately with a brief statement in which he said: I accept and respect the decision of the Academy.”

“The 94th Academy Awards was meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work last year, yet those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior that we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage”, says the open letter from the Academy in which the decision has been communicated and signed by the president, David Rubin, and the CEO, Dawn Hudson.

“During the television broadcast we did not deal adequately with the situation“, also acknowledges the institution, which already intoned that mea culpa in one of its first public statements about the incident. In addition, in the letter the Academy shows “sorry“. “It was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and the Academy family around the world and we fell short“, says the text, where the Academy admits that “it was not prepared for what was unprecedented”.

The document also shows “profound gratitude” to Rock “for maintaining his composure in extraordinary circumstances.” And there is hope that the decision can help “restore confidence in the Academy” and contribute to “starting a healing and restoration time for everyone involved and impacted.”

What the Hollywood Academy He has not done it is take away the oscar to the actor, who got it this year in what was his third nomination. It was something that was expected and would also have been subjected to intense scrutiny. The Academy has only expelled three people: Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby.And, despite these expulsions, which came after the scandal of the #MeToo and the Academy will establish a new code of conductthe first two keep the statuettes they have won in their careers.

The only Oscar that has been withdrawn in almost 100 years of history was that of the documentary ‘Young Americans’, which was awarded in 1969 but was left without the award when it was determined that it had been released in 1967 and could not be eligible for the award in that edition .

With this Friday’s decision, all the parties involved are undoubtedly trying to turn page to a dark chapter that has shaken not only Smith’s reputation but also that of the Academy.