American actor Will Smith has announced his resignation as a Fellow of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.institution that awards the Oscars, having beaten comedian Chris Rock in the most recent ceremony of this awards ceremony.
“I renounce my membership in the Academy… I will accept whatever consequences the board deems appropriate.“wrote the actor. “My actions during the presentation of the 94th Academy Awards were shocking, painful and inexcusable,” he added.
The Hollywood Academy has accepted the actor’s resignation. However, he indicated that he will pursue disciplinary proceedings against Smith “for the violation of the Academy’s codes of conduct in the face of board of directors scheduled for April 18”.
That will be the day the Oscars organization agrees on a final resolution regarding Smith’s controversial blow to Rock. The Academy had previously urged Smith to issue a written statement about his conduct at the ceremony.
Among the penalties provided for in the Hollywood Academy’s bylaws were the suspension or expulsion from schoolwhich has about 10,000 members.
Some voices have been raised demanding that Smith be stripped of his Oscar, which was presented to him shortly after the incident, but others have pointed out that neither Harvey Weinstein, the former producer convicted of rape and sexual assault , nor the director Roman Polanski had been forced to return his statuette after being expelled from the Academy.
the expelled
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Anyway, although Smith anticipated a possible eviction, some people were separated from the establishment for different reasons.
Weinstein was expelled from the Academy in 2017just a month after the bombshell New York Times report that shed light on the sexual harassment charges against him.
The board said their decision was not just to separate us from someone who doesn’t deserve the respect of their colleagues’, but also to ‘send the message that the age of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in predatory sexual behavior and workplace harassment in our industry.”
American actor Carmine Caridithe star of The Godfather Part II, was the first person expelled from the Academy. It happened in 2004, when he was involvement in film piracy.
Federal authorities have alleged that for at least three years, Caridi – who died in 2019 aged 85 – gave a man named Russell Sprague her screening copies of as many as 60 films.
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Caridi gave Sprague’s name to the FBI in exchange for immunity and was sued by Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros.
popular american actor Bill Cosbyas well as Polansky and the director of photography Adam Kimmel they were also expelled from the Academy, after being involved in sex crimes. (I)