Africa-Press – Namibia. THE ‘King Richard’ star will not be permitted to attend the ceremony for a decade after they labelled his slap of comedian Chris Rock at last month’s award show “unprecedented”.
In a statement released by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday, the president David Rubin and chief executive officer Dawn Hudson said: “For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short – unprepared for the unprecedented.”
They praised the 57-year-old comic, Rock, for his “maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances” and offered their gratitude to others for “their poise and grace during the telecast”.
Following the incident, the 53-year-old actor apologised to Rock for his conduct and resigned his membership from the academy, despite just picking up the best actor gong moments after.
The statement continued: “This action we are taking today in response to Will Smith’s behaviour 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.”
Will Packer – one of the producer’s of the 2022 broadcast – confirmed that Smith was asked to leave the show after he assaulted the former ‘Everybody Hates Chris’ star, but he had not wanted people to “physically remove” the star.
Smith hit the stand-up comic after he made a joke at his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense as he made quips about her alopecia.
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