Musings From Abroad

Will Smith resigns from Academy over Oscar slap

Published

2 years ago

April 2, 2022

Veteran US actor Will Smith has voluntarily resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, after the embarrassment he caused by slapping comedian and show host, Chris Rock, on stage during the Oscars on Sunday, March 27.

Announcing his decision in a statement by his publicist on Friday, Smith said:

“I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate.

“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, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home.

“I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken.”

Smith had sensationally stormed the stage to slap Rock over a joke the comedian made about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head which is a result of an hair-loss condition known as alopecia.

Smith would go on to win the best actor award for his role in the Ministry “King Richard,” where he played the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.

Shortly after Smith’s statement, the Academy said it has accepted the resignation and would “continue to move forward” with disciplinary proceedings against the actor.

David Rubin, President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said in a statement Friday that the organization has received and accepted Smith’s “immediate resignation.”

“We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18,” Rubin added.

Such disciplinary proceedings could include stripping Smith of the Oscar he won although that seems unlikely, but he would definitely be denied future appearance at Academy Awards ceremonies.

According to the regulations guiding the Academy, disciplinary actions include suspension or expulsion, along with “other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.”

Only a handful of actors have been expelled from the Academy in the past including Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski, but it was not clear if the same fate was about to befall Smith before he threw in the towel.

But with Smith willingly resigning from the organization of movie stars, directors and producers, he will no longer be able to vote on Oscar-nominated movies and performances each year but he works will still be eligible for future Oscars consideration and nominations.

Related Topics:Chris Rock Featured Oscars Will Smith

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Musings From Abroad

UN indicts warring parties in Sudan, calls for peacekeepers

Published

1 day ago

September 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A United Nations-mandated panel stated on Friday that both sides in Sudan’s civil war had engaged in acts that may qualify as war crimes, and proposed that to protect civilians, international powers must expand the arms embargo and send in peacekeepers.

The report claimed to be based on 182 interviews with survivors, families, and witnesses. It detailed the rape, attacks, use of torture, and arbitrary arrests committed by Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians.

“The gravity of our findings and failure of the warring parties to protect civilians underscores the need for urgent and immediate intervention,” the U.N. fact-finding mission’s chair, Mohamed Chande Othman, told reporters.

Both parties have denied previous allegations by rights organisations and the United States and accused one another of abusing power. Neither stated in reaction to the allegations or answered enquiries for comment on Friday right away.

Othman and the other two mission members demanded the immediate deployment of an independent force.

“We cannot continue to have people dying before our eyes and do nothing about it,” mission member Mona Rishmawi said. A U.N.-mandated peacekeeping force was a possibility, she added.

The mission advocated for the extension of an arms embargo now in place by the United Nations, which only covers the western part of Darfur and the thousands of documented ethnic killings there. Fourteen of the eighteen states in the country have been affected by the conflict that began in Khartoum in April of last year.

According to the mission, there were also good reasons to suspect that the RSF and its affiliated militias had perpetrated other war crimes, including kidnapping women forcing them into prostitution and recruiting minors as fighters.

Unnamed support groups had received allegations of over 400 rapes in the first year of the war, but mission member Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the actual number was likely considerably higher.

Musings From Abroad

Chinese investments in Africa mutually beneficial, South Africa’s Ramaphosa insists

Published

2 days ago

September 5, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said Thursday that Chinese investments in Africa were mutually beneficial and not a “debt trap” for the continent.

Ramaphosa stated this on the sidelines of a China-Africa meeting in Beijing, with delegations from over 50 African states.

“I don’t necessarily buy the notion that when China (invests), it is with the intention of, in the end, ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap or a debt crisis,” Ramaphosa said when asked by reporters about China’s pledge at the summit of $51 billion in new funding for Africa.

China pledged to launch three times more infrastructure projects in resource-rich Africa, a region of significant geopolitical conflict between China, Europe, and the US, and to provide financial support over three years.

Ramaphosa also said, without providing details, that South Africa and China have secured an energy security pact. He claimed South Africa could learn energy sector reform from China.

“They already have done exactly what we are seeking to do. So there are lessons for us to learn from China and how to do it,” he said.

Power outages have slowed economic progress in South Africa in recent years. The country plans to pursue China’s largest electric vehicle producers, Ramaphosa added.

“We had good exchanges with BYD, which has shown a great interest to come and invest in South Africa,” he said.

Africa and China have strengthened commercial and political ties in recent decades. China is a major trading partner and lender. Additionally, Chinese companies invested heavily in Africa, making it a major investor in the continent.