Academy Award officials allegedly lied about telling Will Smith to leave after he assaulted presenter Chris Rock onstage during the 2022 Oscars.
However, during an appearance on Good Morning America on Thursday, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg insists Smith was asked to leave.
Goldberg, an Academy Governor, said officials didn’t want Smith forcibly removed because he is bipolar and they feared he was having a “manic episode”. Goldberg said they didn’t want him struggling with officers.
It is the first time anyone has mentioned Smith is bipolar.
Smith’s damage control team went into overdrive when executives with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) said Smith refused to leave the Dolby Theater following his unprovoked attack on Rock.
RELATED: Will Smith was asked to leave Oscars for slapping Chris Rock, but he refused
Publicists emphatically tell TMZ that Smith was never asked to leave the Oscars after he slapped Rock for joking about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss.
In fact, says TMZ, the opposite is true — he was told by the producer of the Oscars that he could stay and enjoy himself after assaulting a presenter.
According to TMZ, Academy officials got into heated discussions with Smith’s reps backstage. TMZ claims some officials wanted Smith booted from the theater, while others wanted him to stay.
According to sources, Oscars producer Will Packer walked up to Smith during a commercial break and told him he could stay. Packer and an Academy official reportedly told Smith, “We do not want you to leave.”
Packer spoke with Smith around 35 minutes after The Slap, according to TMZ‘s sources. Smith won the Best Actor Award 5 minutes later.
On Wednesday, as the outrage grew in Hollywood, the Academy came under pressure to take a strong stand against Smith.
That’s when the Academy released the statement saying Smith took an aggressive stance and refused to leave the building.
Members of the Academy’s Governors Awards agreed to vote on disciplinary action against Smith in the next meeting on April 18.
Question: Who do you believe?
