Will Smith resigns from acting academy

At the Oscars on April 3, 2022 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Will Smith walked out of his seat, stepped onto the stage, and slapped Chris Rock across the face. To some, it was a minor incident, but to others, it was a major setback for Will Smith. Within hours there were thousands of memes flooding the internet and social media platforms and many news sites, such as CNN, had already published articles.

The Oscars are supposed to be an amazing ceremony where actors and artists get together to celebrate their achievements and recognize their spectacular work. But it all went downhill when Chris Rock started joking about Jada Pinkett Smith and her hair loss. Jada Smith suffers from a common auto-immune disease called Alopecia. Alopecia is an attack on hair follicles that typically causes significant hair loss for both males and females. While this disease can’t necessarily be cured, with medication and sufficient self-care it can be helped.

Chris Rock has yet to confirm if he knew anything about her condition. Despite that being an excuse, many people believe that he didn’t deserve what happened to him. At the same time, others believe that Chris Rock “Got what he had coming.” What exactly happened that night? As Chris Rock began to present an award for Questlove for having the best documentary, he decided to make a comment about Mrs. Smiths’ hair. “Jada I love you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,” said Rock. When he said this, he was insinuating that she resembled Demi Moore from G.I. Jane because they were both bald.

On April 8, 2022, when the board of directors got together, they wrote a letter that stated Smith will be banned from the Oscars for 10 years. The letter said, “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.” However, Smith’s response to this was quite mature and reasonable, stating, “I accept and respect the Academy’s decision.”

When Chris Rock was confronted by the Los Angeles Police Department, he decided not to press any charges against Mr. Smith. As a result, Smith decided that it would be in everyone’s best interest to resign from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts. Over the past week, the Academy has been talking about the disciplinary issues that Smith had violated, stating that they are still reviewing the issue and plan to hold another meeting on April 18th, when they will be discussing the issue as a whole.

When Smith resigned from the Academy, he knew that he would be losing all privileges to vote because of his actions. “My actions at the 94th Academy awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable,” says Smith. “I betrayed the trust of the Academy.” When Smith accepted his award on stage later that night, he apologized to everyone in the room, but didn’t formally apologize to Rock until the following Monday on a social media post.

It’s hard to say if Will Smiths’ actions were justified or not, but what’s certain is that this is far from over. As the issue progresses and eventually dies down, it will leave a mark on Will Smith’s acting career.