The Oscar nominees for the year were announced this week, which means we’re that much closer to the ceremony itself. We can be sure there will be some memorable moments on the show this year (there always are), but another thing we can be sure of are the many jokes about the show’s most memorable moment of the year: Will Smith slapping Chris. Rock live on stage.
Will Smith won’t be on this year’s show, he’s been banned from the show for the next decade, so he won’t be one of the people to talk about the past year’s events, but how exactly did it all come to this point? ?
slap him
At the 2022 Academy Awards, Chris Rock was tasked with presenting the award for Best Documentary. As with most hosts, Rock, who had hosted the show in the past, made a few light-hearted comments before broaching the subject at hand. One of his jokes was directed at Jada Pinkett-Smith, saying he hoped to see her come in GiJane 2. It was a reference to Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head, a result of the actress’ alopecia.
Initially, some people laughed and even Will Smith seemed to have dropped the joke. But as Rock walked, ABC cameras caught the comedian’s confused face as Smith silently took the stage and slapped him. Smith then returned to his place. Even without a mic, he could be heard telling Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.”
Chris Rock, clearly a little shocked, referred to what had just happened, but did his best to get on with the evening. The remainder of the show passed without incident. The evening’s Oscar hosts made oblique references to what happened, but never spoke about it directly, not even when Smith won the Best Actor Oscar.
The results
From the moment the slap happened, it became the topic of people’s conversation. Will Smith released a statement on Instagram apologizing for the incident, and then the actor, who has always been very active on Instagram, remained silent on social media.
Chris Rock was questioned by the police and given the opportunity to press charges, but declined to do so. From there, he fell heavily on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It was felt that they should have acted to punish Smith for his transgression. Many people publicly criticized Smith’s actions, feeling that despite the problems with Rock’s joke, resorting to violence was not the answer. There were conflicting reports as to whether or not Smith was asked to leave the ceremony following the slap.
There were many different avenues open to the Academy. As a member of the Academy, Smith could be removed from office. They could ban him from attending the ceremony, they could even take away the Oscar he had just won. The actor himself denied that possibility days after the event, when Smith resigned his Academy membership.
With that option no longer available, the Academy’s verdict was that Smith would be barred from attending the ceremony for a 10-year period. The 2023 ceremony will be the first where the ban is in effect. He was allowed to keep his Oscar for best actor.
Apparently, Chris Rock was offered the job of hosting the Oscars this year but turned the job down. Whether or not he will appear, possibly as host once more, remains to be seen. Even if Rock and Smith don’t appear on the show, it seems unlikely that the ceremony will take place without at least some reference to the past year’s events. And if Will Smith returns to the Oscars in 10 years, we’ll probably hear from him again.
Source: Cinemablend
