Fans want Mel Gibson and Polanski to return gongs too if Will Smith is stripped of Oscar
Fans of Will Smith have taken to Twitter to defend him after his shocking act during the 94th Academy awards not only left people baffled but also gave rise to speculations that the actor might have to return his Best Actor award. The 53-year-old is currently facing huge backlash for slapping Chris Rock on stage during the Oscars after the latter seemingly made fun of Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head look.
Rock had said, “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,” apparently comparing her to Demi Moore who was seen with a shaved head in the 1997 action movie, ‘G.I. Jane’. Jada shaved her head after suffering from alopecia and the joke made at the expense of her condition did not go down well with her husband of over two decades. ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ star walked to the stage while Rock was addressing the audience and smacked him live on TV. He also asked him to “keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
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Following the incident, Will was declared Best Actor for ‘King Richard’ as he used his acceptance speech to justify his action as well as apologize to the Academy and the attendees but not to Rock, whom he assaulted minutes before. He said, “Love makes you do crazy things,” as he went on to say: “You gotta be able to take abuse, and you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and you gotta pretend like that’s OK.”
The father-of-three also noted: “I want to apologize to the Academy, I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said. I look like the crazy father just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things. I'm hoping the Academy invites me back. Thank you.”
Despite the apology, there is speculation that he might lose his trophy because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gave the awards Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, has strict guidelines in its code of conduct. The new guidelines were issued in 2018 amid the onset of the #Metoo movement. At the time, AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson wrote, “There is no place in the Academy for people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency. The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality. The Board of Governors believes that these standards are essential to the Academy’s mission and reflective of our values.”
But the actor's fans were dismissive of the speculations, with one saying, “no, we are not going to do this to a Black man when we didn't do it to Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Douglas, Douglas Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss, Paul Haggis, James Franco, Kevin Spacey, Casey Affleck, Mel Gibson, Arthur Freed, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable.” Another one tweeted: “The Academy spent decades ignoring rape by Harvey Weinstein before it was forced to remove him from its membership, and never once took action against violence by Roman Polanski who drugged and raped a 13 year old or Mel Gibson who continues to promote hate.”
no, we are not going to do this to a Black man when we didn't do it to Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Douglas, Douglas Hoffman, Richard Dreyfuss, Paul Haggis, James Franco, Kevin Spacey, Casey Affleck, Mel Gibson, Arthur Freed, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, https://t.co/nzz2hmvYUu
— rahaeli (@rahaeli) March 28, 2022
The Academy spent decades ignoring rape by Harvey Weinstein before it was forced to remove him from its membership, and never once took action against violence by Roman Polanski who drugged and raped a 13 year old or Mel Gibson who continues to promote hate.
— Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov) March 28, 2022
if they do this then they’ll become more of a flop than they already are
— comrade barb ☭ 💎🇵🇸🇺🇦 (@themarxistbarb) March 28, 2022
I can assure you that your community has many more disgraceful actions that have impacted many more people than Will Smith. See Roman Polanski, Mel Gibson, Harvey Weinstein, Alfred Hitchcock, etc. https://t.co/wrXdvqCZ2h
— Sil Lai Abrams AKA Alecto ALT: A Woman Finding ☮️ (@Sil_Lai) March 28, 2022
People are saying Will Smith just "ruined his entire career bc of playground behavior" when people like Mel Gibson exist
— Mel, A Dramatic Seal (@Melethonomia) March 28, 2022
A user slammed, “if they do this then they’ll become more of a flop than they already are.” Author Sil Lai Abrams wrote, “I can assure you that your community has many more disgraceful actions that have impacted many more people than Will Smith. See Roman Polanski, Mel Gibson, Harvey Weinstein, Alfred Hitchcock, etc.” “People are saying Will Smith just ‘ruined his entire career bc of playground behavior’ when people like Mel Gibson exist,” a tweet defending Will read.