‘Accept and Respect Academy’s Decision’: Will Smith on 10-Year Ban From Oscars

This decision comes two weeks after Smith stormed on stage mid-ceremony to slap comedian Chris Rock.

Hollywood actor Will Smith was on Friday, 8 April, banned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from attending the Oscars for the next ten years.

News agency AFP on Friday quoted David Rubin and Dawn Hudson, president and CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences respectively, as saying:

"The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from 8 April, 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.”

Will Smith has responded to the ban. He said that he understood the Academy's decision and respected it. “I accept and respect the Academy’s decision,” he said in a brief statement to Page Six on Friday.

This decision by the Academy comes two weeks after Smith stormed to the stage mid-ceremony to slap comedian Chris Rock, in response to a joke the comic made about the actor's wife’s hair.

Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith, also an actor, has alopecia, a hair loss condition.

Smith Had Resigned From Oscar Body

Following the controversy, Smith said on 1 April that he had resigned from the body that organises Oscars.

"I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate," the actor wrote in a statement, which was carried by multiple outlets.

In the statement, Smith said that his "shocking" and "painful" actions had hurt Chris and many others. "I betrayed the trust of the Academy," the actor added.

Following the fiasco, Rock addressed the controversy at a stand-up show in Boston on 30 March.

“Let me be all misty and s***," Rock said with tears in his eyes. Rock was quoted as saying by CNN.com, "How was your weekend? I don’t have a bunch of s*** about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I had like a whole show I wrote before this weekend. And I’m still kind of processing what happened, so at some point I’ll talk about that s***. And it’ll be serious and it’ll be funny, but right now I’m going to tell some jokes".

Rock returned to the stage an hour later for a second show and added that he plans to talk about the incident in detail at some point.

(With inputs from Page Six).