Will Smith has resigned from the Academy following his actions at the 94th Academy Awards. Image Source: LA Times
It looks like the 94th Academy Awards are going to be remembered for a long, long time.
Actor Will Smith has held himself accountable for his actions taken at the 94th Annual Academy Awards on March 27th, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles.
After Chris Rock appeared on stage to present an award for Best Documentary, he made a "G.I. Jane" joke at Jada Pinkett Smith, after which Will Smith got up from his seat, walked up to Chris Rock, slapped him, and got back to his seat, only to yell once again at Chris Rock to keep his wife’s name off his jokes. Chris Rock handled the situation like a professional actor would do and presented the award to Questlove.
Will Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science along with the fellow co-actors and friends when he won the Best Actor award for King Richard but did not apologize to Chris Rock until two days later via a statement on his social media. He mentioned that he is embarrassed and disappointed with the way he reacted and understands that he was out of line and is extremely apologetic to the actor and his family, along with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.
Now, Will Smith has decided to resign from the Academy and is holding himself accountable for his unaccepted actions. In a statement reported, Will Smith said that he had betrayed the trust of the academy and was extremely heartbroken over his actions. The actor added that the list of people he has hurt includes Chris Rock, his family, his friends, and co-actors who were present at the ceremony, along with the audience that watched the ceremony and his actions unfold on-screen.
Will Smith added to his statement that because of his actions, he had deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate the ceremony along with their victories, which came after a lot of hard work and appreciation from the critics and fans. Will Smith said he is heartbroken and, hence, has decided to resign from the membership and is ready to accept any further consequences the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science decides. Will Smith concluded his statement by stating that change takes time and he is ready to commit to putting in the work needed to ensure that he will never allow violence to take over his mind.
Will Smith’s decision to resign from the Academy comes a day after it was reported that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science is looking into the situation and will announce the decision on the actor’s action soon. The resignation only means that Will Smith is no longer a voting member of the Academy until the final decision is announced.
David Rubin, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, confirmed Will Smith’s resignation from the Academy and said that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has accepted Will Smith’s immediate resignation, but the Academy will continue to move forward with their set disciplinary proceedings against Will Smith’s actions for violation of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of the scheduled board meeting on April 18th, 2022.
After the show, it was revealed that Chris Rock did not know about Jada Pinkett Smith’s challenges with alopecia; otherwise, he would have never made that joke. The industry is divided into two parts on whether the action taken by Will Smith was justified or not because where one side says that he was just trying to do what a good husband would do, the other has mentioned that violence in any form is not acceptable and he should have been escorted out of the ceremony.
According to sources, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science claims that they tried to remove the actor from the audience, but Will Smith refused to leave. Some people mentioned that later when he won the award for Best Actor for King Richard, the celebrities in the audience gave him a standing ovation, which was not acceptable as well because he had assaulted a fellow co-actor an hour before and did not even apologize to him.
The show’s producer, Will Packer, revealed during an interview with Good Morning America that he encouraged Will Smith to stay because he was hoping that the actor would go on stage and apologize to Chris Rock then and there and ask for his forgiveness, but that did not happen. Chris Rock declined to file charges against Will Smith and has remained tight-lipped about the incident since, but during a comedy show in Boston, Chris Rock mentioned that he is still trying to process everything that happened on the stage that night and he’ll talk about it when he feels it is the right time to talk about it.
