'A complete red line for us': BAFTA says Will Smith wouldn't even have been in the building to collect his award
If Will Smith had smacked a host, he would have been removed from the BAFTA Awards, according to BAFTA officials. When the 'King Richard' actor stormed the stage at the Dolby Theatre to confront Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's hair, he stunned all the Oscars fans. He went back to his seat, raged at the presenter, and then returned to the platform to accept his award for best actor. Since the incident, there has been a lot of discussion over why the 53-year-old was allowed to stay at the ceremony, with BAFTA organizers claiming that things would have been different if it had happened at their event.
When asked about their process for talent storming the stage, Sara Putt, chair of BAFTA's TV committee and deputy chair of BAFTA told Hollywood Reporter, "they would be removed from the ceremony." Sara also stated that they would not be able to accept an award or give a statement in front of the crowd afterward. “They would not be in the buildings, so they would not physically be able to collect their award. It’s just a complete red line for us,” she added.
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“We do not tolerate violence of any kind,” Emma Baehr, BAFTA's executive director of awards and programming, agreed. Will was also nominated for a BAFTA for best actor for his work as Richard Williams, but he was unable to accept the award at the ceremony earlier this month. Earlier, Will confronted Chris when he made a joke about Jada's hair, prompting the Academy to conduct a formal investigation into the incident. Will shouted a visibly disturbed Chris, “keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
Later, Whoopi Goldberg, who is also an Academy Awards governor, appeared on 'The View' to address the situation and provide her take on what happened. She said, “let me say this, there are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is okay with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody. What’s happening is people are now starting to calm down and say, ‘Wait a minute, what could have triggered this?’” She said when asked why he wasn't forced to leave over the slap, “because that would have been another 15-20 minute explanation of why we’re taking the Black man out, five seconds before they’re about to decide whether he’s won an Oscar or not. I believe [producer] Will Packer made the right decision. He said, ‘Let’s get to the rest of this so we can deal with it wholeheartedly.’ This is not the first time craziness has happened onstage, but this is the first time we’ve seen anybody assault anybody onstage.”