Though it’s been weeks since the infamous Will Smith slap incident at the 2022 Academy Awards, the Tony Awards are doing what they can to prevent that from ever happening on their stage.
In the FAQ section of a letter sent by Tony Awards Productions to ticket buyers obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the entity revealed their plan of action for if/when a “perpetrator” decides to act on their impulses in a violent manner.
“The Tony Awards has a strict no violence policy,” the letter read. “In the event of an incident, the perpetrator will be removed from the event immediately.”
With this move, the Tonys are the first major award show to publicly institute a new no-violence policy—a clear knee-jerk reaction in step with the general public’s overreaction to what happened at the 2022 Oscars. (Yeah, I said what I said. It’s an overreaction and I meant it. But I digress.)
In addition to this policy, other codes of conduct were also highlighted in the letter, specifically as they pertained to dress code, seating and vaccination requirements in the state of New York.
For 75 years, the Tony Awards has been dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the excellence in theater since its inception in 1947. This year’s awards will be presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, with nominations set to be announced on Tuesday, May 3. There has been no word yet on a potential host.
Per Broadway World, some eligible productions could include Lackawanna Blues, Chicken & Biscuits, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Diana, The Musical, Trouble in Mind, Clyde’s, MJ the Musical, for colored girls who have considered suicide /when the rainbow is enuf, A Strange Loop, and more.
The 2022 Tony Awards goes down Sunday, June 12, at Radio City Music Hall airing live on CBS and Paramount+.