LOS ANGELES – Will Smith apologized Monday night to comedian Chris Rock for punching him during Sunday night’s Oscar broadcast after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which administers the awards, denounced his actions and opened an investigation into the incident.
Smith, who had emphatically failed to apologize to Mr. Rock when he took home the Best Actor award, wrote on Instagram Monday night: “I’d like to publicly apologize, Chris.”
“I was out of line and I was wrong,” he said in the statement. “I am ashamed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”
His apology came as the academy, a major Hollywood union and others criticized his actions, which stunned viewers around the world and overshadowed the Oscars.
“The academy condemns Mr. Smith’s actions during last night’s show,” the film organization said in a statement. “We have officially begun a formal review of the incident and will investigate further action and consequences in accordance with our statutes, standards of conduct and California law.”
The academy’s statement came Monday after a meeting. A five-page document on standards of conduct that accompanies it describes behavior that the organization deems unacceptable. It prohibits “physical contact that is uninvited and, in the situation, inappropriate and unwanted, or solicits sexual attention.” Also not allowed is “harassment, stalking, abusive or threatening behavior or bullying”.
Disciplinary action may include “suspension of membership or removal of membership” according to the statutes.
The Academy was not known to have removed a member prior to 2017, when Harvey Weinstein was removed over allegations of sexual harassment and rape. Then, in 2018, after enacting a code of conduct for members, the organization expelled Bill Cosby, who had been convicted of sexual assault, and filmmaker Roman Polanski, who had fled the country years earlier while awaiting conviction for legal rape.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the union that represents thousands of people who work in film, television and radio, called the incident “unacceptable” but said it “will not comment on any pending member disciplinary action.” .”
“Violence or physical abuse in the workplace is never appropriate and the union condemns such behavior,” the union said in a statement Monday. “The incident with Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Academy Awards last night was unacceptable.”
The incident took place Sunday night after Mr. Rock had made a joke about Mr. Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss. Mr. Smith responded by walking onto the Dolby Theater stage and slapping Mr. Rock, leaving the stunned viewers to wonder if perhaps the slap was scripted, until Mr. Smith returned to his seat and warned him. to stop talking about his wife. use expletives.
Behind the scenes at the Oscars, there were serious discussions about removing Mr. Smith from the theater, according to two industry officials with knowledge of the situation who were given anonymity to describe internal deliberations. But time was short, as the award for best actor, which Mr. Smith was very happy to win, was fast approaching, someone noted – and stakeholders had different opinions on how to proceed. There were also concerns about further disrupting the live broadcast, the other said.
As the show progressed, actor Denzel Washington spoke with Mr. Smith during a commercial break. Not long after, Mr. Smith the Best Actor Award. (Mr. Smith said in his speech that Mr. Washington had told him, “Be careful at your highest moment. That’s when the devil will come for you.”) In his remarks on the podium, Mr. Smith apologized to the academy and his fellow nominees – but not with Mr. Rock – and defiantly tried to draw parallels with the character he played in “King Richard”, the father of Venus and Serena Williams.
“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” said Mr Smith.
He received a standing ovation.
Mr Smith said in his statement Monday that he had reacted emotionally because a joke about his wife’s medical condition was “too much for me to bear.” Mr. Smith also apologized to the Academy, the show’s producers, viewers, the people who worked on “King Richard” and the Williams family.
“I deeply regret that my behavior has marred the otherwise wonderful journey for all of us,” he said. “I am a work in progress.”
The incident overshadowed the awards. On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” George Stephanopoulos described it Monday as “something we’ve never seen before, something that’s very hard to digest: Will Smith, walking on that stage after Chris Rock made a joke about his wife told – just attacking Chris Rock.”
The Oscars in power planned to avoid repeating last year’s record-low ratings by making a series of changes they’d hoped would attract more viewers: appointing three comedic actresses as presenters, some awards to try to pick up the pace and introduce a fan favorite prize for viewers to vote for. But the broadcast became a must-see television for a reason they didn’t expect.
“Welp…I said it wouldn’t be boring #Oscars”, Will Packer, one of the show’s producers, tweeted after the performance. he later added: “This was a very painful moment for me. On many levels.”
The broadcast attracted a larger audience than last year, but interest was limited compared to previous years. The awards ceremony attracted 15.4 million viewers on ABC, a 56 percent improvement from the 9.85 million people who watched the event in 2021, ABC said. Sunday night’s show was still the second least watched Oscar ever.
Comedians, who tell awkward and sometimes offensive jokes to earn a living, expressed concern about the precedent Smith had set.
“Let me tell you something, it’s a very bad habit to walk on stage and physically assault a comedian,” Kathy Griffin tweeted† “Now we all have to worry about who the next Will Smith wants to be in comedy clubs and theaters.”
Jimmy Kimmel, the comedian and talk show host who was the last person to host the Oscars, said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” that he felt sorry for the show’s hosts; for Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who won the Best Documentary Award for Mr. Rock had handed out, and for Mr. Rock, who he said “definitely didn’t deserve that”.
“In a way, I also feel sorry for Will Smith, because I think he let his emotions take over and this should have been one of the great nights of his life,” said Mr. Kimmel. “And now it isn’t. Was there anyone in the world who didn’t like Will Smith an hour ago? Like nobody, right? Now he doesn’t have a single comedian boyfriend – that’s for sure.”
Whoopi Goldberg, who sits on the academy’s board of directors and has hosted the show several times, said Monday in “The View” that she did not think Smith’s award would be revoked, citing Mr Rock’s decision. not to press charges.
“We’re not going to take that Oscar away from him,” she said. “There will be consequences, I’m sure.”
The Los Angeles Police Department said it was aware of what it described as an incident where “one person hit another” during the Oscars. Police said the person involved had “refused to report it to the police”.
“If the involved party wants a police report at a later date,” the police said, they would go ahead and “fill out an investigative report.”
At least one member of the academy, Marshall Herskovitz, former president of the Producers Guild of America, called for mr. Smith to take disciplinary action.
Two industry officials said Mr. Rock apparently was advertised.
And Bruce Vilanch, a former lead writer of Oscars shows who didn’t collaborate on this year’s, said: “Everything in the script has been vetted. But when a comedian takes the stage and something ad-lib, there’s no time to probe. I suspect that happened last night. What I hear from everyone is that this was not the material that was rehearsed.”
mr. Rock has teased the Smiths from the Oscars stage before. In 2016, when the Smiths boycotted the awards because the nominees in the four acting categories were all white, Mr. Rock, the host of that show, jokes about it. “Jada says she’s not coming, protesting,” he said. “I’m like, isn’t she on a TV show? Jada is going to boycott the Oscars – Boycotting Jada the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
mr. Smith didn’t let that stop him from celebrating his win on Sunday night, dancing at a crowded party after the Oscars while holding his trophy, but he avoided questioning about the incident. A publicist for Mr. Rock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Jaden Smith, one of the Smiths’ children, tweeted just, “And that’s how we do it.”
Reactions inside and outside Hollywood varied widely. In post-show interviews, after parties and on social media, Smith’s colleagues expressed sadness, confusion, disbelief, anger and, in some cases, empathy in various ways. Many deflected or ignored questions about the episode completely.
The actor Mark Hamill called it the ugliest Oscar moment† “Stand-up comics are very adept at dealing with scammers,” he says wrote on Twitter. “Violent physical assault…not so much. #UgliestOscarMoment_Ever†
A top studio manager, who declined to speak on the record, expressed disappointment with Smith and the fact that the audience at the theater gave him a standing ovation.
And Janai Nelson, the chairman of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, was concerned aloud in a tweet that “the way casual violence was normalized tonight by a collective national audience will have consequences we can’t even comprehend at this point.”
Others seemed to defend Mr. Smith. “Many here are talking about Will Smith and Chris Rock, especially from people whose partners are not black women (mainly white people),” author Frederick Joseph tweeted† “I don’t care if it’s a joke or not, the amount black women have to go through – people are tired of it. We have no idea what Jada went through.”
And comedian Tiffany Haddish, who starred in the movie “Girls Trip” with Ms. Pinkett Smith, said in an interview with People magazine at an after-party that she appreciated Mr. Smith protecting his wife.
“Maybe the world doesn’t like the way it went,” said Mrs. Haddish, “but for me it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen because it made me believe there are still men who love and care for their wives.” their wives.”
And yet, the next day, the predominant reaction was one of disbelief.
“We’re not sure where the fallout will end,” Ryan Seacrest said Monday on his morning show “Live With Kelly and Ryan.” “It was one of those moments that we couldn’t believe when we saw it.”
Sperling reported from Los Angeles. Matt Stevens and Julia Jacobs were reporting from New York. Dave Itzkoff and Tiffany Hsu reporting contributed.
