The Oscar Board of Governors, has hereby barred actor, Will Smith from attending the prestigious movie event for 10 years for assaulting comedian cum actor, Chris Rock on-stage, at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022.

“The board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr Smith, shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including, but not limited to the Academy Awards”, said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, president David Rubin in a letter to the full membership of the board.
“The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community, who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behaviour we saw Mr Smith exhibit on stage.

“During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. 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.

“We want to express our deep gratitude to Mr Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances. We also want to thank our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast.

“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”, Rubin’s letter concluded.

Ahead of the expected sanction, the Oscar winner made a chess move on April 1, and immediately resigned his membership of AMPAS, while also expressing his heartfelt apology to both the Board and Chris.

Will joined AMPAS in 2011.

Had Chris filed a police report against Will, the actor could have faced up to six months behind bars and a $100,000 fine, if found guilty on the misdemeanour charge under California law.

With big project like AppleTV+’s Antoine Fuqua and other projects with Netflix and Sony put on pause, Will Smith’s career will surely dim for a bit.