Max Vadukul/Esquire
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Will Smith Resigns From The Academy and What That Means
Will Smith formally resigned from the Academy after all the backlash of the incident surrounding him slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science accepted the Blockbuster star’s resignation but will still move forward with the disciplinary actions that were already in review. Fans automatically wondered if that meant that Will would have to return the Oscar that he was awarded for his role in King Richard. While that doesn’t seem likely, Will will lose the privilege of voting for potential nominees and access to screeners for films in consideration. Honestly, he’s Will Smith if he wanted to see an advance screening of a film, I can’t anticipate that being a hard task. Before this happened, the trio appeared to be friends.
While his resignation was accepted, his ability to attend future award shows will be at the discretion of the board members which include Rita Wilson, Ava Duvernay and Steven Spielberg. Will’s next scheduled board meeting is April 18th. Will has been an AMPAS member since 2001. Although Chris Rock opted not to file any charges, there has been no report that he is requested Will to be removed from the Oscar nor do we think he was asked. Many have also held against Will that within his teary eyed speech accepting his win for Best Actor that he apologized to everyone accept Chris.
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