Celebrities
Greg Evans
Apr 10, 2022
Independent
Ricky Gervais has again mocked Will Smith after it was announced that the actor had been banned from The Academy for 10 years for the slap that he gave to Chris Rock at the awards show two weeks ago.
Smith, who won the Best Actor award for his lead role in King Richard, was hit with a 10-year ban on Friday, for the shocking moment which is still one of the biggest talking points in the world, almost a fortnight later.
In an open letter, Academy President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said that the incident had "overshadowed" the show and branded Smith's actions "unacceptable and harmful behaviour."
They added: "This action we are taking today in response to Will Smith’s behaviour is a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy. We also hope this can begin a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted."
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The 53-year-old actor said in a statement via The Washington Post: "I accept and respect the Academy’s decision."
In response, Gervais, who has been one of the most vocal individuals surrounding the event, again chose to mock Will Smith. When quote retweeting The Hollywood Reporter, the British comedian said: "Hopefully, he’ll only do 6 years with good behaviour."
Hopefully, he'll only do 6 years with good behaviour.https://twitter.com/THR/status/1512504707595620363\u00a0\u2026— Ricky Gervais (@Ricky Gervais) 1649449098
This isn't the first time that Gervais has commented on the slap and has taken several pops at Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith in the aftermath.
Gervais has previously commented on whether he thinks Smith would have slapped him if he would have made a similar joke at Smith's expense and also said that he would have made a gag about Jada's 'boyfriend' if he was hosting that evening.
The Office star had also said that he didn't believe that alopecia, the condition that Jada Pinkett suffers from and was the butt of Rock's joke, is a disease.
This all shines a further spotlight on the Smiths and their relationship with numerous videos from their past resurfacing in the past few weeks.
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