The Oscars Condemn Will Smith's Assault on Chris Rock and Launch a Formal Review

The Academy Awards got super awkward last night when Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face for making a G.I. Jane sequel joke at the expense of his wife. The whole event was soured by that moment and Smith’s actions have done only harm to himself and others. If he had a problem with what Rock said, there’s a very different a better way to handle it. Violence is not the answer and it was an ugly moment.

Will Smith’s son Jaden took to Twitter after seeing what went down and defended his father’s actions saying, "And That's How We Do It.” I don’t even know what to say to that kind of comment, but it makes me sad.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are now taking real action against Smith and they have launched a formal review of what Smith did. Had it been any other normal person, they would have immediately been taken down by security and hauled off. There would have been immediate consequences. But, it’s Will Smith, and he was allowed to stay, collect his award, and give a hypocritical acceptance speech.

The Academy released the following statement:

“The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law.”

It has yet to be seen what kind of disciplinary action will be taken, but again, it’s Will Smith, so it will most likely be a slap on the wrist. In its official standards of conduct, the Academy states it is “categorically opposed to any form of abuse.” We’ll just have to wait and see what kind of consequences that Smith will face.

Regardless of what happens, a lot of people are condemning Smith for what he did and he lost a lot of fans over it.