Revelations Of Will Smith Call With Oscar Bosses Outrages Board & More

deadline.com:

A previously undisclosed short virtual meeting between Will Smith and Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson on March 29 could be causing a new crisis to hit the Oscar organization.The six minute zoom call initiated by the King Richard star to Rubin and Hudson mainly saw Smith apologize, yet again, for slapping Chris Rock during Sunday’s telecast on live TV.The new shockwave is hitting hard because those in the Academy’s Board of Governors meeting yesterday beginning disciplinary procedures against Smith weren’t in the know.“Why would they keep this from us?” exclaimed one insider who participated in Wednesday’s board meeting. “It only contributes to an atmosphere of suspicion and lack of leadership.”With seemingly contradictory information now swirling about how Smith was allegedly asked and refused to exit the Dolby after striking Rock, the efforts by the nearly 50-member Board of Governors to find an appropriate solution to the situation by its next April 18 scheduled meeting could be fracturing based on news of Rubin and Hudson’s March 29 virtual meeting with Smith.“What else don’t we know about what’s happening or what happened on Sunday?” stated another well positioned Academy member of the interaction between Smith and Rubin and Hudson.“This lack of transparency undermines our ability to come to a suitable resolution to the whole thing,” the AMPAS member added.

Rubin and Hudson heard Smith’s apology out out over how he lost it over Rock’s “G.I. Jane 2” joke over Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head.

Rubin and Hudson informed Smith that a meeting with the Governors was taking place to determine what punitive action should be taken against the Oscar winning King Richard Best