The officers of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors, including president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson, are convening for an emergency phone call about the Will Smith incident that occurred during Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Early speculation is that the Academy will undertake a full review of the incident in which Smith struck presenter Chris Rock in the face after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Some sanction of Smith is likely to come — perhaps the suspension of his Academy membership, as many Academy members are calling for, but not the revocation of his best actor Oscar, as others would like to see.
It may have to wait until the Academy’s next full meeting of the board. The first post-Oscars meeting always involves a postmortem of the show and the consideration of necessary rule changes, etc.
More to come.
