Will Smith's Oscar fate to be decided within hours as Academy 'split' over Chris Rock slap
08.04.2022 - 12:23
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Will Smith could find out his Oscars fate within hours.
It's been reported that a decision should come today (Friday) on whether the star can keep his trophy for Best Actor, which he won at the Academy Awards for King Richard last month.
Of course, the biggest story of the night was not Smith's win, but his actions on stage after host Chris Rock cracked a joke at his wife Jada's expense.
AI actor Smith marched up and slapped the comedian following his "GI Jane 2" jibe about Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.
Smith, 53, shouted: "keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth" after smacking Rock in front of the world's biggest celebrity's in attendance at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
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.
As reported by the Mirror, he could be set for the final decision at some point today.
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