Will Smith resigns from Motion Picture Academy.. 'My Actions Were Painful And Inexcusable'

[IcyPeas]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Spazito (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Will wrote the following to the Academy's disciplinary committee ... "I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable."

He goes on ... "The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home. I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken."

And, there's more ... “I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film. So, I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the board deems appropriate."

https://www.tmz.com/2022/04/01/will-smith-resign-the-academy-oscars-chris-rock-slap-smack/

[brooklynite]

1. Thanks for the update. I still don't care.

[Polly Hennessey]

9. Neither do I. He can disappear after what he did and what he took away.

I think of the William’s family. Venus and Serena deserved better. Still waiting for apology to Chris Rock.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

15. He apologized several days ago

[USALiberal]

16. Cared enough to post! Nt

[Skittles]

2. I can't stand him but....

this is a good move, and his apology is decent

[Sanity Claws]

3. I wonder how the Academy got him to do that

Could they have said that we will bring criminal charges if you don't resign from the Academy?

[former9thward]

13. No.

They still would need Chris Rock to cooperate and he said he would not request charges.

[Mr.Bill]

22. This is incorrect.

While it may make prosecution and conviction more difficult, it is up to the DA whether or not to charge and prosecute. The victim has some input, and I suspect in this case the DA probably has more important cases to deal with, but permission of the victim is not required.

https://www.egattorneys.com/criminal-case-process-california/filing-charges

[former9thward]

26. Ahh Yes, law from the internet.

I deal with the real world since that is my job. The LA PD also deals with the real world.

“LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program,” the police said in a statement tonight. “The incident involved one individual slapping another,” they added. “The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.”

https://deadline.com/2022/03/will-smith-lapd-no-charges-police-report-chris-rock-assault-oscars-1234988725/

[LiberalFighter]

4. That is a start

I would suggest it should include anger management

[JHB]

5. The only news here is the betting pool for when he comes back.

A couple of months or a couple of years? Odds are against the 12-month span: he'll sit out next year's.

But he'll be back. Or prove how pointless it is.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Seems like PR is on overdrive.

He should have said this on Monday, not Fri. Too little too late, Will. We all know who he really is and his character is abominable. No one will ever respect him again. He dug his own grave. I hope his career never recovers. He ruined the entire show for everyone involved and blew it off in a very public display, especially at the after party where he was dancing to his own song and living it up. He clearly has NO REMORSE. This is a PR move in an attempt to save the remnants of his career.

[Yoyoyo77]

20. In an interview a few years ago, he said he grew up full of guilt that he couldn't stop his dad

from abusing his mom. That kind of family background without a commitment to good counseling, and years of self work can lead to either self neglect/self harm or lashing out at others whenever triggered. He needs to step back, take a good look at himself and make a restart.

[SmallFry]

21. I'm highly confident that a lot of people currently respect him.

I would like to have seen him arrested. He should have been detained. Neither of those were my decision to make. While I believe his actions played directly into many very harmful aspects of society, he didn’t invent the wheel, and really just highlighted it’s prevalence and existence.

Still wish him the best life. I don’t watch movies but if he knocks it out of the park on another one I bet/hope he does some good with some of the money. If not, it was worth it for me to grace him with another opportunity. The arrogance.

[Cha]

7. Mahalo IcyPeas.. Wow..

Now that's an Apology!

💙💛

[mcar]

8. I accept his resignation

can we talk about the real issues now, media?

[Auggie]

10. I think this is really unfortunate ...

I really, really, really respect the effort required by him to not only break into but also succeed in a mostly caucasian-dominated industry. I'm not ready to cancel him for one stupid thing. A short suspension from the Academy seems more reasonable.

[EndlessWire]

11. It makes me sad.

I like Will Smith and his work. I hope they do not take the award back. This could be an important time to quit. I just personally don't see this event as being all earth shaking and a Federal offense, when Chris Rock insulted Smith's wife over a medical condition. And, especially since Smith pulled his slap and walked away, and also Rock did not want to press charges. The whole thing looked like a bit.

The Academy should get off its high horse. Do they not review or critique the content of some announcer's monologue? They should not allow people to be so insulted, any more than they should condone fisticuffs at the podium. The whole situation is just stupid. But, I blame Chris Rock for his lame roast-like joke and provoking the confrontation.

Jada Smith is BEAUTIFUL, just gorgeous, with or without hair. She has nothing to worry about!

[70sEraVet]

17. I agree with your take on it.

My feelings are, if you're going to make a hurtful joke at the expense of a guy's wife, you've got no right to complain when the guy slaps you silly.
And the Academy has some responsibility for this. Have they issued a statement criticising Chris Rock's inappropriate joke?

[wishstar]

19. The producer Will Packer said Chris Rock went totally off script with his jokes

Show producer Will Packer said in ABC interview that all of the monologues and jokes were planned and vetted and on teleprompters but that Chris Rock totally went off-script and didn't deliver any of his expected lines.

I think partly why Will Smith overreacted so badly was because when Chris Rock hosted in 2016 he made a snarky dig at Jada who had said she was boycotting that year due to lack of nominations for people of color. Chris made a joke implying that her comment was ridiculous since she wasn't invited anyway. So some bad blood between them for a while now.

[Duncan Grant]

23. "Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs," he (Packer) said.

Mr. Packer said that Mr. Smith reached out and apologized to him the morning after the Oscars. And he praised Mr. Rock for having kept his cool. “Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs,” he said.

“I’ve never felt so immediately devastated,” Mr. Packer said of the incident.

Asked if, after hearing Mr. Smith’s acceptance speech, he wished that the actor had left the ceremony, Mr. Packer said that he did, noting that Mr. Smith had not used his remarks to express real contrition and apologize to Mr. Rock.

“If he wasn’t going to give that speech which made it truly better, then yes, yes,” Mr. Packer said when asked if he wished Mr. Smith had left the ceremony. “Because now you don’t have the optics of somebody who committed this act, didn’t nail it in terms of a conciliatory acceptance speech in that moment, who then continued to be in the room.” —David Packer “ Will Smith Resigns From Academy After Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars’’ (New York Times, accessed 4/1/22)

[SmallFry]

12. Sad all around.

I don’t believe Smith is void of a conscious or empathy.

That moment you can’t have back.

[UTUSN]

14. K&R - may Polanski & Gibson join him

[tishaLA]

18. His agent went bye-bye yesterday

and said he won't work with Smith's production company--he may even pull out of those under negotiation. He's become toxic and in all likelihood the production company is going to shut down because it won't be able to attract talent.

[Duncan Grant]

24. Will Smith puts no conditions on his remarks. No whining. No excuses.

It wouldn’t have helped his case in any way. After reading his statement, it looks as if he accepts that he - and he alone - was responsible for his actions.

“Change takes time,” he (Smith) concluded, “and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.” — NYT

[Generic Brad]

25. What happens when an actor resigns from the Academy?

They are not allowed to participate in future Oscar voting and ceremonies. Is that it? If so, how is that a punishment? You just can't be in the cool kids club anymore. Oooooh!

[Spazito]

27. *LOCKING*

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