The Will Smith/Chris Rock moment of the Oscars is set to be formally reviewed, as ratings for the show shoot up by nearly 50% on last year.
Well, if the aim of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences – that’d be AMPAS – was to boost the ratings for the Oscars, it got its wish. It got a whole host of other things to deal with, but it got its wish.
The Oscars, which managed to cut out the live handing out of eight awards from its telecast and still managed to be even longer than before, enjoyed ratings
that shot up in the US by nearly 50%. 15.36 million watched the show in the States, compared to 10.4 million for last year’s scaled down version.
Separately, AMPAS
has now confirmed it will undertaking a formal review of the moment when Chris Rock mocked Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith then taking, er, ‘action’. Rock wasn’t seen again during the evening, Smith got a standing ovation and a Best Actor Oscar a little while later.
A statement from the Academy – it’s been issuing a few of these – has now been released, reading ““The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law”.
What’s unlikely is that Smith will, as had been suggested, be asked to return his Oscar. Instead, he’ll get some punishment that won’t presumably make much difference to anyone.
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
Related Stories
- Will horror films finally break into the Oscars in 2025?
With a slew of excellent, critically acclaimed horror films in 2024, could awards bodies finally give them more consideration? A few thoughts.
Update: These are the kinds of updates we love to write. On 5th January, something remarkable happened. Demi Moore won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical Or Comedy for her performance in [...]
- This year’s Oscar nominations paint a depressing picture of Hollywood
The nominations are in for this year’s Oscars, but they’re reflective of an industry still stuck in its old ways. Some thoughts:
You either love or hate the awards season, but it’s hard to escape it. Awards of course don’t mean everything; they’re often indicative of a great marketing campaign and the production’s address book rather [...]
- The Brutalist review | Brady Corbet’s magnum opus is well worth your time
Brady Corbet has made his best film yet with an American epic about a Jewish refugee. Here’s our The Brutalist review.
The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s Cannes sensation, feels timely despite its post-World War II setting. Its take on the immigration experience, seen through the eyes of a Hungarian-Jewish architect, was always going to hit close to [...]
- Oscars considering making AI disclosure mandatory
The Oscars may require transparency over the use of AI in making of films, as part of future submissions. More here.
AI is a topic that has dominated awards season this year. Brady Corbet's The Brutalist is a highest-profile casualty of a widespread aversion to the emergent technology, which is already claiming the jobs of humans [...]
- Billy Crystal was the best modern Oscars host – just check out all his opening songs!
With Conan O’Brien named as the next Oscars host, we decided to post all opening songs by Billy Crystal, the best modern Oscars host.
Conan O’Brien is officially hosting the 97th Oscars next March. It’s a pretty solid choice by the Academy after a slew of slightly dull ceremonies.
Even if O’Brien absolutely nails the gig, it’s [...]
