It’s almost hard to believe it, but we’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of the 2022 Academy Awards. Aside from the awards of the night, this event is perhaps best known for Will Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock on national television, shortly before being awarded Best Actor. There’s been a ton of discourse around how the Academy reacted to this viral event, specifically how Smith was permitted to stay for the rest of the event and even accept an award after the altercation with Rock. And upon further review, the Academy admitted it didn’t handle the Oscars slap very well. Let’s break it all down.
Will Smith basically broke the internet when he slapped Chris Rock, with discourse surrounding last year’s Oscars still happening today. In the days following, Smith dropped out of the Academy, and was banned from attending the ceremony. But during the recent Oscars Nominees Luncheon (via Variety), AMPAS president Janet Yang admitted to some guilt about the handling of the Slap last year.
