Oscars 2022: Academy starts disciplinary proceedings against Will Smith

Just few days after Hollywood star Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock during the 94th Oscars telecast the Board of Governors held an emergency meeting to discuss the consequences for the best actor winnerHe now faces suspension expulsion or other sanctions permitted reports VarietyThe statement from the Academy is highly damning citing the standards of conduct and Smiths violations of inappropriate physical contact abusive or threatening behaviour and compromising the integrity of the AcademySmith who won the Oscar for best actor for King Richard not long after the slap has been given 15 days notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions and has the opportunity to provide a written responseThe next board meeting is scheduled for April 18 when the Academy may take disciplinary actionOne notable new bit of information is the Academy stating they asked Will Smith to leave the Dolby Theatre but Smith refused to do soOne of the biggest bits of scrutiny regarding the handling of the moment was Smith not being removed from the auditorium The Academy has offered clarification saying Smith was asked to leave but refusedWe also recognise we could have handled the situation differently the Academy statement readThe organisation also offered a formal apology to Rock the other nominees who attended the ceremony and the viewers at home and in person who witnessed the eventThe letter states Mr Rock we apologise to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment We also apologise to our nominees guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory eventMonday evening a letter from Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson went out to the entire membershipThe leadership shared their outrage regarding Smiths actions and how it overshadowed the evening where films such as CODA and Dune walked away with the most awardsLikely to go down as one of the craziest moments in the 94year history of the Academy its not the only crazy moment during a telecast At the 1973 ceremony Sacheen Littlefeather accepted the best actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando for The Godfather 1972 to speak about the mistreatment of Native Americans in the Hollywood industryThis was on the heels of the standoff between law enforcement officials and Native Americans at Wounded Knee After receiving a mixture of applause and audible boos from the audience Littlefeather claimed in a 2021 interview with The Guardian that John Wayne had to be restrained by six security men to prevent him from forcibly removing her from the stageTwotime director winner Clint Eastwood took the stage afterward to present best picture and grotesquely said I dont know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford Westerns over the yearsNo action was taken against the two during the telecast However the current Academys code of conduct was not in placeDuring an episode of The View Oscarwinning actress Whoopi Goldberg a member of the Board of Governors said Were not going to take that Oscar from him There will be consequences Im sure but I dont think thats what theyll doHarvey Weinstein was expelled from the Academy in October 2017 following the New York Times report of decades of sexual misbehaviourRoman Polanski was convicted in 1978 of raping a 13yearold girl before fleeing to France before his sentencing but won an Academy Award for directing The Pianist in 2002 He was expelled in June 2019 He filed a lawsuit against the Academy before losing the bid in August 2020This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever