Will Smith Resigns From the Academy — Now What?
Since the Oscars' messy slap incident, the aftermath consisted of Will Smith's "working on myself" apology, Chris Rock's comedy tour sale spikes, and even a formal review by the Academy itself — all were expected outcomes, no? Well, I bet you didn't predict Will canceling his Academy membership on your The Slap bingo card.
In a statement on April 1, Will Smith announced that he was resigning from his Academy membership, saying, "I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate."
"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," Smith adds.
He goes on in his statement to say that he's "heartbroken" to have "betrayed the trust of the Academy" and "deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work."
Now, for us non-Academy regular folks, what does Will Smith's membership resignation actually mean?
First, let's clear this up: Will Smith will keep his Best Actor Oscar Award for his performance in King Richard, which is also his first Oscar since working in the industry for over 20 years.
While Smith can still receive nominations for future Oscars awards, the actor will no longer be able to attend Academy-hosted events nor cast his vote for Oscar nominations.
Like most clubs, the Academy smiled and accepted Will Smith's membership adios, but they're still not so happy about the incident. So, they're still working out the disciplinary kinks of their action plan.
"We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18," said David Rubin, the Academy president, in a statement accepting the resignation.
After almost a week since The Slap's occurrence, people (it's me, I'm people) are over the incident — conspiracy theories and unwarranted celeb takes included. It's time to move on to the next award show, i.e., the Grammys, on April 3.
Indeed the music ceremony's annual snubs will cause some chatter, but unfortunately, we suspect we'll be in for more slap-related punchlines from host Trevor Noah.
