A member of the Motion Picture Academy called Will’s 10-year Oscar ban a “toothless penalty” as a response to the slap heard around the world.
A few weeks after the first unforgettable Oscars, where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada, Will has been banned from attending the Academy awards for the next 10 years but one Academy member thinks the actor has gotten off a little light.
Actor and academy member Harry Lennix wrote a biting op-ed in Variety, in which he referred to Will’s punishment as: “an extended time out for a playground bully” that “lays bare the shallowness of Hollywood morals”.
“Smith’s brutality stripped the entire evening of its prestige,” Lennix said.
“That was proven when stunned Oscar attendees gave a standing ovation to someone who’d just committed an assault in front of their eyes.”
“With one deft blow, Will Smith created an existential crisis for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences,”
“The incident was such a jolt to societal norms that it will gnaw away at our national conscience until somehow properly atoned for.”
“The stain on the Motion Picture Academy cannot be easily remediated. The only hope for a justifiable grace must involve Smith voluntarily returning his award for best actor.”
More to come.
