Whoopi Goldberg has insisted that Will Smith won’t have his Oscar taken away from him after he broke the Academy’s code of conduct by slapping Chris Rock.
Will, 53, has since apologised for assaulting Chris, 57, at Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony, saying his behavior was ‘unacceptable and inexcusable’ and left him ’embarrassed’.
The group that hands out the Oscars condemned Will’s actions on Monday and said it had started a formal review of the incident, yet Academy Governor Whoopi has insisted that the fallout won’t be as dramatic as stripping Will of the honour.
Speaking on the US talk show The View, Goldberg, who is a serving Governor for the Academy’s Actors branch, went on to defend Will’s actions, reasoning: ‘sometimes you behave badly’.
Will had slapped Chris in front of the world on live television after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
Whoopi said on Monday’s show: ‘I think it was a lot of stuff probably built up.
‘I think he overreacted… I think he had one of those moments where it was like [God damn] it, just stop. I get it, not everybody acts the way we would like them to act under pressure. And he snapped…
‘Sometimes you get to a point when you behave badly. I myself have behaved badly on occasion.’
Whoopi’s co-host Sunny Hostin said that she was ‘surprised [Will] wasn’t escorted out’, and questioned if there was the possibility of Will’s Oscar being taken away.
Whoopi replied: ‘We’re not going to take that Oscar from him.
‘There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’re going to do, particularly because Chris said ‘Listen, I’m not pressing any charges.’
Despite Whoopi’s comments, there have been calls for the Academy to strip Will of his Best Actor Oscar.
The Academy, in its code of conduct, is known to take a very a dim view of violence of any kind.
After the award ceremony was over it tweeted: ‘The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.’
The Academy reestablished its Code of Conduct in 2017 during the Me Too Movement.
‘Academy membership is a privilege offered to only a select few within the global community of filmmakers,’ AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson wrote to members following various scandals in the industry.-Daily Mail