Will Smith won’t have his Oscar taken away from him, Academy Governor Whoopi Goldberg has said.
Smith, 53, has apologised for slapping Chris Rock after the comedian made an insensitive joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head when she suffers with alopecia.
The I Am Legend star then twice told Rock to “keep his wife’s name out of his f**king mouth”, just moments before he was announced the winner of the Best Actor prize for his role in biopic King Richard.
Now Goldberg - who is an Academy Governor serving on the group’s Actors branch – has insisted she is sure there will be consequences for the actor.
She told The View: “We’re not going to take that Oscar from him. There will be consequences I’m sure, but I don’t think that’s what they’re going to do, particularly because Chris said ‘Listen, I’m not pressing any charges’.”
The Academy Governor said she felt Smith had “overreacted” to the joke.
She added: “I think it was a lot of stuff probably built up. I think he overreacted... I think he had one of those moments where it was like [God d**n] it, just stop. I get it, not everybody acts the way we would like them to act under pressure.
“And he snapped... Sometimes you get to a point when you behave badly. I myself have behaved badly on occasion.”
Smith has since apologised to Rock on social media and he admitted his behaviour was “unacceptable”.
The organisation behind the Oscars said in a statement it had launched a formal review.
“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 said.
