The Academy Board Is Reportedly Divided On Whether To Take Away Will Smith’s Oscar Or Not (UPDATE: He’s Been Banned From The Oscars For 10 Years)
UPDATE: Will Smith will get to keep his Oscar but he won’t be able to go to any Academy events for the next 10 years. That means he will not present Best Actress (like most previous Best Actor winners do) at next year’s Oscars. Deadline has the Academy’s full statement, but here’s the main part of it.
Today, the Board of Governors convened a meeting to discuss how best to respond to Will Smith’s actions at the Oscars, in addition to accepting his resignation. The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards.
We want to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances. We also want to thank our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast.
This action we are taking today in response to Will Smith’s behavior is a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy. We also hope this can begin a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted.
And here’s the original post:
In the aftermath of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, people have brought out old clips that show the messiness in his marriage with Jada Pinkett-Smith. One clip that has gone viral is one where Jada attempts to rope Will into an uncomfortable conversation during an IG Live where he’s looking at her like “Not Today Satan” the entire time. On top of that, it’s also being reported that going into today’s meeting on if Will should be punished, the Academy board is split on if his Best Actor Oscar should be taken away.
According to Page Six, a 2019 short clip of Jada attempting to plug an upcoming guest on her Ikea showroom-themed talk show Red Table Talk has resurfaced, and if anything, it looks more like an interaction in the break room between co-workers who hate each other. Jada was set to interview psychotherapist Esther Perel and wanted to let everyone know how much Esther helped her marriage. But since Jada didn’t prep Will prior to the Live (which is probably in their marriage contract) he immediately hit her with the “Bitch Please” face before speaking in a tone only set for corporate office emails.
Will Smith gives a stern warning to his wife Jada Pinkett Smith — saying “Don’t use me” for clout — in a resurfaced 2019 video that is going viral on social media.
The 49-second clip — which was initially filmed by Pinkett Smith on her Instagram Live — has clocked thousands of views on Reddit since it popped up in the wake of Smith’s assault on comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Old clip of Jada forcing Will Smith to respond. This is abuse.
She talking about fixing the relationship while she shits on him. He gave a boundary and instead of acknowledging it, she dismisses it by calling him foolish.
FREE MY GUY pic.twitter.com/LcicKE6UnA
— fukifuki 🇬🇵 (@FukuOnu94) April 7, 2022
Clearly, Will’s warning was for naught, because this is how part of that interview with Esther went:
#JadaPinkett says there are bigger betrayals than infidelity?? Do you agree?? pic.twitter.com/OtZfclwDzJ
— The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam) June 10, 2019
In other Will news, The Sun (so take this rumor with all the salt that’s in the Dead Sea) reports that the Academy Board has held meetings on how to sanction Will for his actions. Will has already resigned from the Academy but he’s still facing possible punishment and sources claim that the board is split.
The 53-year-old later resigned from the Academy and according to one member, the 54 board members — 25 of whom are female — were “almost entirely split” ahead of the hearing.
Speaking from LA last night the source said: “There have been at least two different Zoom and conference calls with various members, and specific governors over the past ten days.
“The decision was made earlier this week to expedite the hearing in the wake of Will’s resignation, and during that call it was clear that the decision would go to the wire.
“The members — of which there are over 9,000, with hundreds of WhatsApp groups flying about — are completely split.
“The governors themselves are also said to be in disagreement.”
Some members don’t want to take Will’s Oscar away because that didn’t happen with convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein or Roman Polanski. So taking Will’s Oscar away while a convicted rapist still has is not a good look. If they really want to punish Will, they should lock him and Jada in a room together and make them watch After Earth on a loop.
Pic: InstarImages