Academy Awards condemned for not taking action on Will Smith

The Academy Awards has been singled out and condemned on twitter, by some fans who believe organizers of the event did not take any actions against Will Smith after he slapped Comedian Chris Rock on stage.

During the Oscars 2022 event last night, Will Smith walked up stage and slapped Chris Rock. This was after the comedian cracked a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smiths who was also present at the Dolby Theater.

The incident left many nominees present, as well as fans, surprised as they could not believe that Will Smith actually slapped Chris Rock, a father of two beautiful daughters.

Reacting to the incident, The Academy, in a twitter post, indicated that the Academy does not condone any form of violence.

The Academy however, did not to outrightly condemn Smith’s action.

This infuriated some fans who took to the microblogging platform, twitter, to register their displeasure, and also to condemn the Academy for ‘failing’ to condemn Smith.

A twitter user with the handle @TheyCallMeDSP, believes that Smith should have been thrown out of the Dolby Theater or arrested for his “assault” on Rock.

“You watched and broadcast a live assault to millions of people around the world, then awarded a man who committed said assault immediately afterwards without removing him from the building or having him arrested for the crime. That’s the definition of condoning the violence,” @TheyCallMeDSP tweeted.

Another tweep, Peter Schink, also has this to say: “You don’t? One member struck another member. Then you let the assailant sit there for 90 mins as the center of attention. No one made any condemning remarks. And then you gave him an award and a standing ovation. Where was the not condoning part?”

Below are some tweets condemning The Academy

Yeah you do. In any normal business Will Smith would have been escorted out by security immediately and then arrested. Instead, you gave him an award.

— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) March 28, 2022

Based on what happened at the Oscars, I would be terrified to be a comic in any medium. Violence in retaliation for a joke, good or bad, is not acceptable. Nobody should be afraid to do their job because @TheAcademy did a bad job with the Will and Chris Rock situation.

— DSP The Undying (@TheyCallMeDSP) March 28, 2022

A man committed violence against another man and then everybody cheered him and acted like it was okay. Is that not a textbook definition of condoning violence. pic.twitter.com/NritVdrZqj

— FilmGamer (@FilmGamerOne) March 28, 2022

You gave an assault perpetrator five uninterrupted minutes on a global platform to excuse his behaviour.

You don’t just condone violence. You endorse and amplify it!

— Mark Kearney (@mnkearney) March 28, 2022

The crime happened hours ago. You did nothing then handed the criminal a trophy. Delete your ceremony.

— Matt Walton (@themattwalton) March 28, 2022

Will Smith should've been excused from the award ceremony & arrested the moment he slapped Chris Rock; Assaulting a fellow attendee is unjustifiable. The Academy proves to condone "violence" by allowing him to stay, & awarding him after such classless behavior. This is provoking.

— Daniel Regha (@DanielRegha) March 28, 2022