UPDATED with more details: Just hours before Chris Rock is set to take the stage in Boston tonight, Will Smith’s fate from the actor’s rage-filled slap of the comic at Sunday’s Oscars now rests in his own hands after a meeting by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of...
news.yahoo.com
“Consistent with the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr. Smith is being provided at least 15 days’ notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions, and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response,” the Academy said today of the “disciplinary proceedings” it has begun after a virtual gathering of the dozens of Governors and other AMPAS aides concluded. “At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.”
Unsurprisingly, the vote among the nearly 50 governors was overwhelming to pursue the matter further.
Truly surprising is that the Academy is revealing that the newly minted
Best Actor winner actually was requested to exit the Dolby Theatre after striking Rock over a crack about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair — a request the
King Richard star distinctly declined.
“While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently,” the Academy said of the disturbing incident at the Will Packer-produced 94th Academy Awards.
Although Smith was seen talking with Denzel Washington, Bradley Cooper and Tyler Perry soon after he slapped and screamed at Rock, it actually was a member of the Academy’s top leadership that sought to have the former Fresh Prince exit, I hear. In a move to avoid another blow-up, the request was not made to Smith directly but through the actor’s reps, it seems.
Several members of the Board of Governors — which includes Steven Spielberg, past Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg and Participant CEO David Linde — at today’s virtual meeting did not know about Smith being asked to leave on Sunday. “It was a real shocker,” one insider close to the situation told Deadline of the revelation.
In the minutes and hours right after the assault of Rock, Oscar organizers and producers took a lot of flak for seemingly allowing Smith to stay in his front to seat next to Pinkett Smith. The apparent paralysis was exacerbated further by the odds-on favorite for Best Actor having nearly 45 minutes to sit there before his win in the category was unveiled.
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