The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) is meeting on Friday to consider sanctions against Will Smith after the actor hit Chris Rock at the Oscars on 27 March.
Smith has since apologised and resigned from the Academy, which reportedly prompted the Ampas president, David Rubin, to bring forward a board meeting scheduled for 18 April. In his letter to board members, Rubin said that Ampas rules stipulated a 15-day notice to consider suspending a membership, but after Smith’s resignation that no longer applied.
After the incident, in which Smith appeared to take exception to a joke aimed at his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, he went on to receive the best actor award for his performance in King Richard. Ampas later said Smith had been asked to leave the ceremony and refused, though later reports suggested that this was not a formal request and that the show’s producer, Will Packer, wanted him to stay. It also emerged that Rubin and the Ampas CEO, Dawn Hudson, held a secret meeting with Smith two days after the Oscars ceremony.
Smith is not expected to be stripped of his Oscar – especially given that convicted criminals such as Roman Polanski and Harvey Weinstein have retained theirs – so it is not clear what sanctions other than expulsion remain.
A number of high-profile projects associated with Smith appear to have been delayed as producers take stock, with Netflix pausing work on the action thriller Fast and Loose, and Sony reportedly halting development of Bad Boys 4.
