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The Academy Awards admit they could have handled last year’s mishaps better.
According to Variety, while speaking at the 2023 Oscars Nominees Luncheon, the current president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Janet Yang, recently admitted that the Academy did not handle the fallout over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the opening monologue of the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony as best as they could have and vowed to offer more appropriate action in the future.
“I’m sure you all remember we experienced an unprecedented event at the Oscars,” Yang explained to the eventgoers. “What happened onstage was fully unacceptable and the response from our organization was inadequate.”
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Smith took to the stage last year and physically assaulted Chris Rock with a slap after Rock made a comedic jab at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, regarding her bald head. After the altercation, the ceremony continued and eventually concluded with Smith winning the Oscar for best actor for his performance in “King Richard”.
The Academy took several days to finally announce that they would be seizing Smith’s AMPAS membership and banning him from attending the Oscar ceremony for a decade.
Smith since apologized for his actions via an Instagram video in July 2022.
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Yang ended her statement about last year’s response to the physical violence with an allegiance to act faster.
“We learned from this that the Academy must be fully transparent and accountable in our actions, and particularly in times of crisis you must act swiftly, compassionately and decisively for ourselves and for our industry. You should and can expect no less form us going forward.”
