Janet Yang, current president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), admitted at the start of the 2023 Academy Awards nominees’ luncheon that the organization did not properly handle the fallout from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards.
“I’m sure you all remember that we witnessed an unprecedented event at the Academy Awards,” Yang told the audience, which included the likes of Tom Cruise. “What happened on stage was completely unacceptable and our organization’s response was inadequate. We have learned from this that the Academy must be completely transparent and accountable in our actions and, especially in times of crisis, must act with speed, compassion and firmness for ourselves and for our industry.” You should and cannot expect anything less going forward.”
Smith took to the stage during the 2022 Academy Awards and slapped Rock in the face while the latter was presenting in the Best Documentary category. Crack rock joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head. After the slap, Smith returned to his seat and repeatedly yelled at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!” The ceremony continued with Smith still in attendance as he won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in King Richard.
The 2022 Academy Awards will be broadcast at the end of March. Smith resigned from the Academy on April 1, writing in a statement, “I have betrayed the trust of the Academy. I have denied other nominees and winners the opportunity to celebrate and celebrate their extraordinary work. Burning my heart.”
It took several more days for the Academy to announce that Smith had been revoked from AMPAS and banned from attending the Academy Awards for 10 years.
“The 94th Academy Awards were intended to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who have done an outstanding job in the past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith displayed on stage,” the Academy said. In a statement April 8. “During the telecast, we did not dwell sufficiently on the situation in the room. For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example to our guests, viewers and the Academy family around the world, and we failed – unprepared for the unprecedented.”
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Smith again apologized for his actions in a July 2022 video post in which he revealed, “I reached out to Chris and the message that came back was he’s not ready to talk, and when he is, he’ll reach out.”
In the months after the Oscars, Smith fronted Apple’s bondage drama “Emancipation” and confirmed that a fourth “Bad Boys” movie is in development at Sony.
