Despite the recent allegation that Will Smith refused to leave the Oscars at the Academy's request after he slapped Chris Rock over a Jada Pinkett Smith joke, TMZ said in a new report that...well...might not be exactly how things went down.
As a refresher, the Academy released a new statement yesterday about the details surrounding the incident and its own subsequent investigation, stating, “While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.”
The Academy also confirmed it had already “initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct,” which include inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy. Finally, it rounded out the statement by announcing that action (which may include anything from expulsion to suspension) may be taken at its next Academy board meeting on April 18. (P.S. even a potential year-long ban from the Academy could prove to be detrimental to Will, since it would prevent him from being nominated at next year's Oscars for his upcoming movie Emancipation.)
Despite that statement though, there are now questions being raised about whether or not the Academy *actually* asked Will to leave. Multiple TMZ sources claim the Academy never asked Will to leave and had this to say today: “No one ever asked Chris if Will should leave. They never consulted him. It was the Oscars producer Will Packer who made the final decision to let Will stay.”
Variety also published accounts saying the King Richard star was never formally asked to leave and that Will Packer was “the key” to Will staying after Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson expressed a desire for Will to leave the show post-slap. “Packer walked out into the orchestra and conferred with Smith, according to two witnesses. Packer said that he and the production 'officially' wanted Smith to stay for the remainder of the show, according to one of the witnesses. Another source close to Packer denied that the producer urged Smith to remain,” the article states.
So, here's what we don't know: anything. But we do know that people everywhere are still confused about the incident and what it will ultimately mean for Will Smith. Stay tuned, we guess!
Gretty Garcia is the associate news editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers all things news, entertainment, and pop culture. Before joining Cosmo, Gretty was a social strategist for Mrs. Dow Jones and a features and special projects editor at Editorialist. She holds an MS from the Columbia Journalism School and studied art history at Harvard College.
