Four days after what’s inarguably the biggest entertainment news story of the year, the ramifications of what we can call ‘the Oscars moment’ continue.
As pretty much everyone on this planet, and several other planets, already knows, this was the bit of the Oscars ceremony where Will Smith left his seat after Chris Rock had made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith (and not a very pleasant one), slapped him, hurled some F-bombs, and then within an hour was getting a standing ovation and an Oscar.
Not for nothing are many still struggling to wrap their heads around just how it all ultimately played out.
One person who oddly hasn’t been the core part of many of the responses thus far is Jada Pinkett Smith herself, the butt of the joke. She’s broken her silence, with a simple Instagram post, so let’s start with her voice first.
View this post on Instagram
Chris Rock meanwhile has performed a couple of planned comedy gigs over the last week, walking out to a standing ovation. As Variety reports here, he’s acknowledged and mentioned what happened in his gigs, but hasn’t gone into detail as of yet.
He told a crowd in Boston that “I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny”.
Two of the co-hosts of the ceremony, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer, have meanwhile both addressed what happened in the last day or two as well. Sykes has recorded an interview with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, of which a snippet has been released. In it, she says she found the moment “sickening”. Chris Rock apologised to Sykes later in the evening, but she replied “why are you apologising?”
The clip is here.
.@iamWandaSykes was here today and shared some thoughts about #Oscar night. pic.twitter.com/i5tj8sYbIB
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 30, 2022
Schumer has posted on Instagram, and said she was still “triggered and traumatized” by what happened.
From the evening itself come more stories of what actually happened in the aftermath of the incident.
It turns out that Will Smith was asked to leave the Dolby Theatre, as per a statement released by AMPAS. It had faced questions as to why Smith wasn’t asked to leave the theatre, but it turns out he was, and he refused to go. “We also recognize we could have handled the situation differently,” the statement noted.
The Academy is now working out what Smith faces as a result of his actions, and has formally initiated disciplinary proceedings.
In its words: “the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct”.
This one’s going to rumble on for a while yet it seems, and that’s before talk begins as to just what state the Oscars are going to be in next year. More as we hear it…
