Even though it’s been fourscore and seven years ago nearly a year since the now infamous Will Smith/Chris Rock slap incident at the 2022 Oscars, the president of the Academy is still trying to explain away their delayed reaction to it.
During the 2023 Oscars Nominees Luncheon on Monday, President of the Academy Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Janet Yang expressed that they were “inadequate” in their response to the unfortunate incident but that they will act “swiftly, compassionately and decisively” in matters moving forward.
“I’m sure you all remember we experienced an unprecedented event at the Oscars,” Yang began. “What happened onstage was fully unacceptable and the response from our organization was inadequate. We learned from this that the Academy must be fully transparent and accountable in our actions, and particularly in times of crisis you must act swiftly, compassionately and decisively for ourselves and for our industry. You should and can expect no less form us going forward.”
I hear what you and the rest of the Academy voting members are saying, but respectfully: why is this even still a topic of conversation? We’re approaching a year to the date and I can assure you with every fiber of my being that no one cares about this anymore. In fact, it may be surprising to learn that a vast majority of us stopped caring about a month after it happened when all the discourse began to die down. The only reason why we keep having to care is because people keep bringing it back up.
Will has apologized and been reprimanded, so what really is the point of beating a dead horse? We all know what he did isn’t the worst offense by a member of the Academy, it shouldn’t even make the top five on a list if we’re being all the way real (trust me, there are a HANDFUL of others who rank higher with their atrocities). So isn’t it best if we all move on from this before the hypocrisy starts to take center stage instead? I know I’m ready to and so is most of the internet: