Will Smith won the award for best actor for his performance in “King Richard,” at Sunday’s BET Awards, but he was not there to accept the honor. Smith was banned from the Academy Awards for 10 years after his on-stage assault of Chris Rock on March 27.
Smith’s talents as an actor were celebrated during the BET Awards, in spite of the actor’s ban from all events associated with the Academy Awards, according to People. The president of the Academy, David Rubin, and CEO Dawn Hudson, released a statement April 8, revealing that “Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards,” according to documents procured by Entertainment Weekly. BET opted to proceed in crediting Smith in spite of his ongoing issues surrounding Oscars night, according to People.
Will Smith Wins Best Actor at BET Awards for King Richard 3 Months After Oscars Controversy https://t.co/qtbfV2Afi5
— People (@people) June 27, 2022
Smith’s best actor award beat out nominees Adrian Holmes an Jabari Banks for “Bel Air,” Anthony Anderson for “Black-ish,” and Damson Idris for “Snowfall” as well as Denzel Washington for “The Tragedy of MacBeth”. Also nominated in this category were Forest Whitaker for “Respect and Godfather of Harlem,” and Sterling K. Brown for “This Is Us,” according to People.
“King Richard” also took the win for best movie during Sunday’s celebration.(RELATED: Will Smith’s Contracts Get Pulled After Academy Awards Slap)
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Smith came under for slapping Rock in the face in the middle of his hosting duties. Rock had made a joke about Will Smith’s wife, who had suffered hair loss due to a condition called alopecia, which Rock denies having any previous knowledge of, according to TMZ.
“Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear, and I reacted emotionally,” Smith said in a message posted to his Instagram account.
Smith has not made public appearances since incident at the Oscars, and has not given an official explanation for his absence from the BET Awards.