Resigning from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences today, 53-year-old 2022 Best Actor Will Smith, preempted what will certainly be severe consequences for slapping 57-year-olf Chris Rock at the 94th Oscars. Smith’s behavior shocked onlookers at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre and millions watching around the world. Watching the 6-foot-two-inch Smith assault five-foot-nine-inch Rock on the Oscar’s stage was horrifying to most viewers, expecting some kind of consequences from the Academy or Los Angeles Police. When nothing happened, the Academy was put under enormous public pressure to apply consequences. Scheduled to decide Smith’s fate April 15, Smith decided today to fire the Academy first, resigning his membership before the final decision. Resigning from the Academy was the ultimate slap, rejecting the process to play out.
Since the March 24 altercation, there hasn’t a moment gone buy without Smith being the brunt of late-night jokes, but, more importantly almost uniform condemnation. “My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful and inexcusable. The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family and many of my dear friends and loved ones, all of those in attendance and global audience at home,” Smith said, repeating the same fake mea culpa repeated after the incident. Smith let his publicist do the talking, making matters much worse for the highly accomplished actor. Smith, who prides himself on his involvement in Scientology, considers himself “cleared,” a term in Scientology to mean he’s free of mental health issues.
Based on L. Ron Hubbard’s 1954 tome “Scientology,” the book maps out what Hubbard proclaimed was the “new science of mental health,” actually a hodgepodge of cliches dating back to Freud’s theory of unconscious reinvented for a modern audience. Smith’s attack at the Awards on Rock showed that he was anything but “cleared,” actually a psychological head-case, too consumed with himself to realize that he has serious mental problems that came before his Best Actor acceptance speech. Smith rambled incoherently, blbering, weeping and carrying on like a self-absorbed child until he finally finished the embarrassing speech. What the audience and world saw was someone with a serious problems, not properly managed, as evidenced by his attack on Rock, but, more importantly, the way he handled the well-deserved criticism for his outburst on stage.
Smith showed his true colors deciding to drop out of the Academy to accept his consequences for committing a violent act on the Academy stage. “I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve the attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support the creativity and artistry in the film,” Smith said, obviously written by his publicist or some other crisis communication specialist. If Smith had any of the humility, he’d talk about letting the Academy do its job without trying to second-guess or preempt its April 15 decision. Whatever Smith’s future, he needed to allow the Academy to do its job, not trying to make their hard work look irrelevant.
Smith is too narcissistic to understand that resigning from the Academy before his disciplinary hearing robs the Board of Governors of their right to deliberate over his actions, without dealing with his defensive reactions. “So I am resigning membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and will accept any further consequences the board deems appropriate,” Smith said. If he were really sincere, he would tell the Academy he’s undergoing, not Scientology, but legitimate mental health counseling to figure out how an otherwise sane person acted so erratically. Smith’s actions were the equivalent of a criminal defendant fleeing from justice, deciding to drop out to avoid facing the consequences. Smith should admit publicly that his long history in Scientology has not dealt with whatever underlying issues caused his outburst and the Oscars.
Resigning from the Award was the ultimate insult to the Academy, the audience and the public that observed the indignity to watching him slap Chris Rock. Smith’s carefully prepared mea culpa completely misses the point of letting the Academy do the hard work of figuring out an appropriate way of dealing with the incident. Smith thinks he can apply the punishment to himself to spare the Academy of any further embarrassment. But in resigning his membership, Smith slapped every Academy member in the face. With his resignation, the Academy should seriously consider retracting his Best Actor award, since suspending his membership is not irrelevant. Smith demonstrated, no matter what his mental health issues, that he’s not a deserving a Best Actor Award recipient, behaving in a manner inconsistent with any professional actor dignifying Hollywood’s rich tradition,
