The American actor is under a disciplinary procedure after his gesture against the humorist during the Oscars ceremony. It risked the suspension or exclusion of the academy with nearly 10,000 members.
Le Monde with AFP
He preferred to take the lead. Under a disciplinary proceeding after the lure of the Humorist Chris Rock in the open ceremony of the Oscars, Will Smith announced, Friday, April 1, his resignation of the organization that awards the prestigious trophies. The 53-year-old actor explains in a statement.
My shares at 94 e Oscars ceremony were shocking, painful and inexcusable. The list of those I injured is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and my loved ones, all those who were in the public or at home. I resign from my member of the Cinema Academy of Arts and Sciences and I will accept all the consequences that the Board of Directors will estimate appropriate.
It’s a Chris Rock joke on Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair, Will Smith’s wife with a disease causing a significant hair loss, which triggered the Esclandre Sunday night. Will Smith was suddenly mounted on stage and had slapped Chris Rock under the clooded eye of celebrities and viewers.
A few tens of minutes after the slap, he had returned on the stage of the Oscars to receive the price of the best actor, for his role in the Williams method.
“I betrayed the confidence of the Academy. I deprived other candidates and winners of the chance to celebrate their extraordinary work. I have a broken heart,” still regrets the American actor in his text.
The drop or not of his Oscar
In a letter to the members of the Academy, the leaders had said “scandalized” by the incident, deploring that the ceremony “was overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior of a candidate on stage”.
The Board of Directors has started disciplinary proceedings against Will Smith. He must meet on April 18 to rule on his case and decide on possible sanctions, leaving the actor a period of at least fifteen days to “be heard by means of a written answer”. Sanctions provided for by the Organization’s internal regulations were the suspension or exclusion of the Academy, which has nearly 10,000 members.
Voices had been raised to claim that Will Smith be deprived of his Oscar but others pointed out that neither Harvey Weinstein, former Hollywood Magnat sentenced for rape and sexual assault, nor the director Roman Polanski n ‘ had been forced to make their statuette after being excluded from the Academy.
The professionalism of Chris Rock greeted
The producer of the Oscars evening, Will Packer, paid tribute to the coolness and professionalism of Chris Rock who told him saved the evening of the Oscars. “This is because Chris managed this moment with elegance and cooling that we have been able to continue the show,” he said on Friday on television ABC.
After being slapped, the humorist had quickly chained, putting the best documentary trophy as planned. He then preferred to play the appeasement, refusing to file a complaint against Will Smith that the police were willing to stop for his gesture. “It has, in a way, allowed to continue the show, what we wanted to do,” said Will Packer.
Chris Rock has for the first time expressed on the incident on Wednesday night, shortly after his arrival on stage for a show in Boston. “I’m still digeding what happened. So, at some point, I’m going to talk about this thing. And it will be serious and funny,” he said.