{"id":19387,"date":"2022-04-02T07:04:25","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T07:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=19387"},"modified":"2022-04-02T07:04:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T07:04:25","slug":"will-smith-resigns-from-academy-saying-he-betrayed-its-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/04\/02\/will-smith-resigns-from-academy-saying-he-betrayed-its-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Smith resigns from Academy, saying he betrayed its trust"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Will Smith has resigned from Hollywood\u2019s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony, saying that he \u201cbetrayed the trust of the Academy\u201d and will accept \u201cany further consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

In statement released on Friday afternoon, the actor described his actions at the 94th Academy Awards as \u201cshocking, painful, and inexcusable\u201d.<\/p>\n

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He added: \u201cI betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s resignation pre-empts official disciplinary action from the Academy board of governors, which met on Wednesday and initiated proceedings against Smith. Smith loses voting privileges with his resignation. But there are other, less tangible benefits to being part of the Academy, Hollywood\u2019s most prestigious organization: it bestows industry credibility on its members. It\u2019s invitation-only, with a once-a-year membership review.<\/p>\n

The Academy president, David Rubin, said Smith\u2019s resignation was accepted. \u201cWe will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr Smith for violations of the Academy\u2019s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what additional punishment Smith could face. Had he been expelled, Smith would have joined a small group of men removed from the academy: Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and the actor Carmine Caridi, who was kicked out for sharing awards screeners.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Smith shocked Hollywood and viewers at home when he strode on stage and smacked Rock, moments after the comedian had made a joke at the expense of Smith\u2019s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.<\/p>\n

The fallout has shaken the industry. While some have rallied around Smith for coming to his wife\u2019s defense, he has been widely condemned for responding with violence and casting a cloud over both his long-sought Oscar victory and the night\u2019s other winners.<\/p>\n

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Many have questioned why Smith \u2013 who later received a standing ovation after winning the award for best actor \u2013 was allowed to remain seated front row at the Academy Awards after the incident. On Wednesday, the Academy claimed that it had attempted to remove the actor from the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated,\u201d the Academy said. \u201cWhile 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, outlets including\u00a0Variety\u00a0and the\u00a0Hollywood Reporter\u00a0have complicated the account of what exactly took place backstage, with sources saying that Academy leadership did not formally ask Smith leave the ceremony, and that the show\u2019s producer, Will Packer, encouraged him to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what many of us were hoping was that he would go on that stage and make it better,\u201d Packer\u00a0said\u00a0in an interview with Good Morning America. \u201cWe were hoping that he would make it better, that he would stand on that stage and say what just happened minutes ago was absolutely and completely wrong [and say], \u2018Chris Rock, I\u2019m so sorry, please forgive me.\u2019 That\u2019s what I was hoping for. I felt like he was going to win and I was hoping that if he stayed, he said that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, who won for his role in King Richard, did not apologize to Rock until the day after the show, when\u00a0he wrote\u00a0on Instagram: \u201cI was out of line and I was wrong … I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us. I am a work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rock declined to file charges when asked by police and has remained tight lipped since. Speaking\u00a0at a comedy show\u00a0in Boston this week, the comedian briefly alluded to the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still processing what happened, so at some point I\u2019ll talk about that shit,\u201d Rock\u00a0told\u00a0the crowd. \u201cIt\u2019ll be serious. It\u2019ll be funny, but right now I\u2019m going to tell some jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will Smith has resigned from Hollywood\u2019s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony, saying that he \u201cbetrayed the trust of the Academy\u201d and will accept \u201cany further consequences\u201d. In statement released on Friday afternoon, the actor described his actions at the 94th Academy Awards as \u201cshocking, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[5580,10618,11941,10237,5483,5581,9194,5428,275,10239,9171,10391,5934,7457,11186,2490,8394,11493,2249,9974,9833,12309,5399,5439,421,3805,10722,7423,6978,10897,6348,10885,3954,1869,12851,10415,594],"class_list":["post-19387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-academy-award","tag-actor","tag-bill","tag-bill-cosby","tag-boston","tag-carmine-caridi","tag-charges","tag-chris-rock","tag-comedian","tag-comedy","tag-crowd","tag-declined","tag-expelled","tag-good-morning-america","tag-harvey-weinstein","tag-hollywood","tag-instagram","tag-interview","tag-jada-pinkett-smith","tag-leadership","tag-meeting","tag-men","tag-oscar","tag-oscars","tag-police","tag-president","tag-removed","tag-resigns","tag-rock","tag-roman","tag-us","tag-victory","tag-will","tag-will-smith","tag-winners","tag-work","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}