The Reel Rejects - MOVIE NEWS: Will Smith RESIGNS From Academy Following Chris Rock Slap Backlash - Reaction & Thoughts!!

Episode Date: April 5, 2022

What a week this has been!! In light of the backlash surrounding the 94th Annual Academy Awards ceremony where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, the Best Actor Winner has decided to resign from the Academy. We share our thoughts on the situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flying first class with Alaska Airlines isn't just about getting there. It's about enjoying the journey. Stretch out with industry leading leg room. Sink into an adjustable headrest and cozy up with a custom filsen blanket on long flights. Savor hot fresh meals, never frozen, and sip on our custom stump town coffee. Brewed to taste great at 30,000 feet. Upgrade your next trip. Book now at Alaskaair.com.

Hi, I'm Trisha. your friend and jeweler at Shane Company, where we're all about you, your style, your budget, your dream engagement ring. Are you looking for a style that's classic, modern, vintage, or something in between? Not sure? At Shane Company, we're here to help. We have so much style under one roof because a friend knows you like options. Drop by or visit us at shanko.com. Shane Company, your friend and jeweler. well well reject nation how you doing so more updates on the will smith slap hurt around the world

we're here to tell you that chris rock has sold out all the shows hosting all the academy awards to come doing great man if it wasn't for that slap it wouldn't be son i might have you know now it's for official thank heavens for the slapping but then uh after that you know i was getting some notifications and apparent will smith himself has resigned from the Academy Awards as a statement that we haven't read yet because why would we unless there's a camera here and I got some thoughts thoughts just don't stop everywhere I go I'm having a conversation about this and thoughts just keep developing left and right so let's hear what he has to say here and talk about it and we pull it up okay so we're reading from deadline I have directly responded to the Academy's disciplinary hearing notice aha aha and Big Willie will will full accept any and all consequences for my conduct. Good. Yes. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable. Completely unjiggy. Unjiggy. We were not jiggy with it that day. And no, there is no excuse for it.

The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, and all those in attendance and global audiences at home. It's true. I missed like the first half hour of the Oscars. And I went back and watched it. I was like, man, there were some funny bits from there that I'm like, no one talks about it. It will never be spoken of again. And a bunch of award winners too. 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. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and follow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to

support creativity and artist in film. Artistry in film. I was thinking about that because normally you have the actor returned the following year to present best actress. That would just be like all the talk again. It would be so distracting. It would be controversial. Like should they have let him come back? They shouldn't have let him come back, you know, like depending on what he would do between now and then a year from now. I would be surprised that they brought him back. So I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and will accept any further consequences the board deems appropriate jail jail and not giving my oscar back that's right now i'm at my oscar melted down and then wear it everywhere i go i don't think he should give his oscar back i mean there's

something to be said though with him like should he have stayed should they have let him give a speech i leaned towards the side of no they should have asked him a leaf however still like it was still fascinating watching the speech i prefer the show entertainment value with the speech it's a very human show at that point yeah but morally probably should not have gone i'm saying Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake Reason this is a second recording slap he slapped a reporter once remember that I can't slap that guy I do think that this is probably the wisest decision it would never stop being discussed we don't all the behind the scenes logistics of what's going on here like hey if you don't willfully resign

so-and-so might happen this might happen this might happen perhaps like I do think honestly when I heard and I thought like this is probably the best decision actually moving forward right now like could there be a moment in time where he's forgiven by the public forgiven by the people you know like he's really shown development it seems like we forgive celebrities incredibly fast what will that scale be measured out on who knows time will only tell what what it really is that will allow us to be like yeah you know what he's let's give him a second shot at being accepted back in here he was amazing and men and black for absolutely we should get him an Oscar nomination let's make it happen. However, I do think this is the smartest decision. Like, this is the only thing people

haven't talked about like all week. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, this will at least lay some of the, you know, back and forth animosity to the rest. And I really feel like if he does hope to eventually maybe reenter the academy one day, this is the way to start the road to that recovery. Because if he accepts responsibility now, walks away, I feel like in five years time, unless there's some kind of rule within where if you resign, you can never come back. I feel like there's a road for him if he stays on the straight and narrow to be reinstated at some point, especially if he comes back around with another amazing performance that sways public opinion back in that direction or whatever it might be, and pending what Chris Rock has to say on the subject later on. Like, I feel like there's

still a lot of moving parts, and this is only for right now. That's well said, especially on what Chris Rock has to say. Like, as much as he's like sold out and stuff, he's able to do his show, But there's a lot. He said himself recently that he's still processing everything that happened. What I was thinking about is just really how sad all this is. Like, this is really sad. This is his biggest moment as an actor. Maybe not biggest box office or something of that degree. But the highest award, best recognition you could ever get is receiving an Oscar for leading actor if that is your field.

So this was supposed to be his greatest night and his whole career. And then he blew it. He blew it by going up on stage, reacting in anger, slapping up. Not just a presenter, but a friend to supposedly a friend. Supposed. You know, it's usually like, you think of movies that are like rise and downfall. And then here it's, it is like his Scarface Tale told him just one story. A little always lost moment, right?

Not only was it the greatest achievement of his night, but also a potential downfall for the rest of Will Smith's career. Like, do I really believe it will be his, you know, like I said, we seem to forgive celebrities really fast. It's on a different scale, though. It's not some, like, leaked audio tape. A lot of us experience this in real time. So we got to experience the shock worldwide, you know, as opposed to, did you hear about what this guy did? And then you listen to it.

And you're like, let me make an assessment about it. It's different when you're, like, experiencing it in real time. And then more and more celebrities keep coming out, like, talking about it, talking about it, and just keeps getting it more and more condemned. You know, also, it's been for, like, the safety of his family. It's probably best he just hide. Like, this is supposed to be his greatest week, and it's just turned into. to because he the thing that always that really struck me as odd that night the first thing that

struck me as odd was nothing happened to him that was the the weirdest part first thing i talked about was nothing happened to yeah the academy still cannot get straight the story as to whether they asked him to leave whether he was told to stay whether chris rock was involved at all in that situation like nobody can get the story straight on how they wanted to handle it so i feel like they're probably two breathing a sigh of relief going he's just handled it for us the bottom as things have to change. A lot of people go to the past. Like even myself, like, guys, do you remember when Quentin Tarantino spit on a reporter at the red carpet of the Oscars? Do you know that? Do you remember that? It happened. No repercussions were made. Freaky Christian Baio went ballistic

on set at a DP for getting in the way and distracting for his performance, almost attacked the guy but people held him back. He wins an Oscar a short time later. There's a lot of like people who've done bad things who are then either there or rewarded. But that is no excuse. So we have to start drawing the line, basically, as I'm trying to say. I'm not saying that to say, like, nothing happened to them. So why should something happen? I'm saying because nothing happened to them on that regard. I know those are different scales.

There's different ways to measure it out. Like, I don't think the Christian Bale incident is necessarily applicable to the Oscars. I think, you know, like we have to draw the line. We can't just, he can't walk away from this with no repercussions. And hold that line to people in the future should anything like that happen. Especially, you know, in a post-Canya Taylor Swift world, I feel like we should have already probably been doing that. If Kanye did this, no one would be surprised. No, we would just be meming and encouraging it further.

Yeah. We'll see what the journey of Will Smith will ultimately be. He'll make a movie about this. I think why it's also painful for people is, like for myself, especially, like, why it's shocking, is because Will Smith as an individual is someone I've looked up to for many years. Before we even started doing YouTube, there was this compilation called The Philosophy of the Philosophy of, Will Smith that I listen to over and over again. It can be like a motivational speaker. It seemed like even when he retired, he could be a motivational speaker.

To have such an incident like this happen, it's not just shocking. It's really disappointing. And I think that level of disappointment in the person that we believe Will Smith to be, a lot of us did at least, it hits way worse. That's why I'm saying if like it's not necessarily an insult to Kanye, even though it can be. Will Smith is much more of a discernible role model for people. Whereas, you know, Kanye isn't, I mean, he sure wants to be, but isn't trying to fill that mold as actively.

I'm not trying to make this a race thing. If Mel Gibson did it, we wouldn't be a surprise. Go back to Tarantino. If Tarantino did it, we wouldn't be a surprise. Right. Black actors did it. All right, guys. Well, what do you think?

Was this the right move? Leave your thoughts down below. We'll talk with you guys soon.