Almost a year after the slap that went around the world and that will remain forever in the history of the Oscars, the statuette that Will Smith won for best actor for The Williams Method is still not engraved with the name of the American.
Tradition dictates that each new award winner attends the so-called Governor’s Ball after the ceremony to have their name engraved on the award. If everything develops normally, it is the winners themselves who carry their statuette so that it is done. However, last year’s gala was exceptional.
Will Smith never made it to the dance last year, after slapping Chris Rock onstage while joking about the shaved head of the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett, who suffers from alopecia. The comment from the presenter and comedian did not sit well with Smith, who got up to slap Rock in the middle of the air when he compared Pinkett to Lieutenant O’Neil from the Ridley Scott film.
After Will Smith’s slap and reprimand, the actor ended up taking the Oscar for Best Actor and took the opportunity to apologize to the Academy and the public. However, his apology was not enough. As a disciplinary measure, the Hollywood Academy prohibited him from attending the appointment for the next ten years.
Despite all the controversy, Janet Yang, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has said a year later that Will Smith was welcome if he still wanted to engrave his name on the Best Actor Oscar statuette. “He won the Oscar, so it should have his name engraved on it. I don’t know if he should come in person but yes, we can manage it,” Janet Yang said on the Awards Chatter podcast.
