In a statement obtained by CNN, the Academy said that Mr. Smith would not be allowed to attend any Academy events or programs in person or virtually for 10 years.
In the week following the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith found himself being publicly ridiculed in internet meme, condemned by his peers and the Academy, and this led to a number of upcoming projects faltering in the aftermath.
The meeting to decide what action would be taken against Smith was originally planned to take place later this month, but following the actor's decision to resign from the Academy, they decided to bring everything forward to bring the whole thing to a close as quickly as possible. The decision was made by the Board of Governors today in a meeting in Los Angeles, who earlier were reported to be split on how to deal with Smith in the wake of the incident and his resignation from the Academy last week.
According to a statement from the Academy, Will Smith will not be allowed to attend any Academy Awards ceremonies for the next ten years. There will be no action taken to remove Smith's award from him, based on the statement of the Academy. The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage. It has been almost two weeks since Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife's shaved head.
Smith apologized after the incident, in which he described his moment of madness and talked of his shame at what he had done.
There have been calls for criminal charges to be brought against Smith and for him to be stripped of his Best actor Oscar. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short. The actor apologized again when he announced that he was leaving the Academy because he did not feel it was appropriate to be a member. The biography of the actor was abandoned, the two projects that were to star Smith were put on hold, and the development of Bad Boys 4 was put on hold. Chris Rock did not want to press charges against Smith. We didn't adequately address the situation in the room. We are sorry for this.