Will Smith will reportedly find out on Friday (April 8) whether or not he can keep his Oscar for Best Actor, which he won at the Academy Awards last month.
The Hollywood actor caused quite the stir at this year's ceremony in Los Angeles when he slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage.
Will, 53, was not impressed with a joke Chris made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her alopecia and told him to "keep my wife's name out of your fu**ing mouth".
Days later, Will resigned from the Academy and according to one member, the 54 board members - 25 of whom are female - were "almost entirely split" ahead of the hearing.
A source claimed to The Sun: "There have been at least two different Zoom and conference calls with various members, and specific governors over the past ten days.
"The decision was made earlier this week to expedite the hearing in the wake of Will’s resignation, and during that call it was clear that the decision would go to the wire.
"The members - of which there are over 9,000, with hundreds of WhatsApp groups flying about - are completely split." the insider continued.
"The governors themselves are also said to be in disagreement. Given, though, that convicted sexual predator Harvey Weinstein and fugitive child rapist Roman Polanski haven’t been stripped of their gongs, the general consensus is that it would be madness and rank hypocrisy to take such a stand now.
"But, as we all know, Hollywood is a law unto itself, frankly," they added.
It comes after Will's talent agency denied that they were parting ways with the A-list actor.
Executives at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) were reportedly considering dumping the 53-year-old actor following his violent outburst on live TV.
But despite reports two top execs at CAA were at war over Will’s future, the agency has denied any divisions within their ranks.
“There’s no truth to any of it. Simply never happened,” a spokesman for CAA said.
