Spider-Man Star Says Oscars Should Ban Will Smith

By Russ Burlingame

Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man: No Way Home villain Thomas Hayden Church has joined the chorus of voices urging the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to penalize Will Smith after he walked onstage and struck comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday. Speaking with SiriusXM's Debatable, Church said that he believed the Academy should ban Smith from membership in the Academy and attendance of the Oscars. Currently, the Academy has only five former members who have been banned, but Academy insiders have floated the possibility of making Smith the sixth in off-the-record comments to the press.

The Academy issued a statement on Monday, saying that it "does not condone violence of any form" and launched a formal review of Smith's outburst. Los Angeles Police Department representatives said that Rock declined to press charges against Smith on Sunday, and Smith issued an apology to Rock over Instagram. 

"I am an Academy Award-nominated actor, I've been in the Academy for 17 years, and what [Smith] did -- despite how he tried to scramble for an explanation, and quite frankly I think a pretty pathetic excuse that he was doing it out of love, out of protection for Jada -- in my mind...I think that Will Smith should be banned from the Oscars for the rest of his life," Church said in the call. "I think he should have his Academy membership stripped, but I do not think he should have the Oscar taken from him."

You can hear the clip below.

Smith slapped Rock after the latter made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith's shaved head. Pinkett-Smith suffers from alopecia, and her husband said he got "emotional" after feeling the joke crossed a line. The moment instantly went viral, with some fans assuming that it was part of a planned comedy bit until responses from those in attendance made it clear that was not the case. Despite breaking the event's code of conduct, Smith was not ejected from the ceremony, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor a few minutes later for his work on King Richard.

There have been relatively few calls to have Smith stripped of the award in the wake of the scandal, although on Sunday night, there was considerable debate over whether it should have been awarded in the first place. Smith's acceptance speech obliquely referenced the event, apologizing to the Academy and the other nominees, and saying that "love will make you do crazy things."

"The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy," a statement from the Academy read on Wednesday. "Consistent with the Academy's Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr. Smith is being provided at least 15 days' notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions, and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response. At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct."

That statement also claimed that Smith was asked to leave the event, but refused, but representatives for the Academy made clear that they never even considered having the actor removed against his will.

The five former members currently banned from Academy membership are Carmine Caridi, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski, and cinematographer Adam Kimmel. The others were all banned for sex-abuse scandals, except for Caridi, who was banned for film piracy after he shared copies of his awards screeners.

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