The president of the Academy admitted on Monday (February 13) that the organization failed in its response to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars.
According to Variety, Academy president Janet Yang made the admission to attendees of the 2023 Oscars Nominees Luncheon.
“I’m sure you all remember we experienced an unprecedented event at the Oscars,” Yang said Monday. “What happened onstage was fully unacceptable and the response from our organization was inadequate."
"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," she continued. "You should and can expect no less from us going forward.”
In March 2022, Smith took the stage at the 94th Academy Awards and slapped Rock after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's hair. The King Richard star returned to his seat following the slap, telling Rock to “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!” The Oscars continued with Smith winning the award for Best Actor.
In the fallout of the slap, the Academy banned Smith from attending the ceremony for the next 10 years.
“The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage,” the Academy said in an April 8 statement. “During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers, and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short — unprepared for the unprecedented.”
Most recently, Smith apologized for his actions in a July 2022 video where the actor revealed that he "reached out to Chris and the message that came back is he’s not ready to talk, and when he is, he will reach out.”
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