Will Smith Oscar crisis handled by inner circle fighting to save the actor's brand
foxnews.comWill Smith may still be reeling from the fallout of his infamous smacking of comedian Chris Rock on stage at the 94th Academy Awards after more than a week of public humiliation and multiple about-face moments.
Despite the onslaught of criticism and global infatuation of the dust-up, the showbiz superstar has a cast of stout supporters in his corner, many of whom have gone to bat behind the scenes for the "Fresh Prince"-turned-"King Richard" actor.
On Friday, Smith’s crisis team meticulously dropped the earth-shattering news that the "Concussion" performer had resigned from the esteemed Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in an emotional memorandum he described as "heartbreaking." The timing of when the release went public proved pivotal in taking the heat off Smith and mitigating the amount of coverage Smith’s resignation would garner at a fast and furious rate of publication.
The Friday evening news dump was an old school public relations strategy given that the Grammy Awards would begin airing in fewer than 48 hours with the Smith team all but hoping something would happen to overshadow Smith’s self-imposed exile from the film academy’s voting process.
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