As the months pass by, the Oscars slapgate which had begun to harden the road to redemption for Will Smith has now become invariably harder. After the Academy, the venerated sketch comedy institution, Saturday Night Live aka SNL is now banning the Bad Boys For Life actor. The incident not only reached the core of the crowd that night but shook their lives for days and months to come. In the present scenario, SNL‘s ban effuses the impact that Will Smith’s resounding slap left behind in its aftermath.
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NBC’s Saturday Night Live Imposes Ban on Will Smith
The sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live has existed as a constant source of radical entertainment for decades since the mid-70s. The show is known for traversing across boundaries defined by comedy and satire and went on to broach topics that are politically impactful and subjects addressing the relevant social events of contemporary time. The hilarious yet intelligent series has always had an intermingling relationship between its artists, comedians, and actors with whom they often work on collaborative projects.
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Following the 2022 Oscars incident, SNL has however restricted access to their wide-arching platform to Will Smith, one of their alums, who had been a resident performer from 1990-1993. In an interview with Radar Online, a source claimed,
“Smith will never ever be invited back to SNL after what he did to Chris. The show is a temple comedian, and no one wants him around anymore. Forget hosting, Will won’t even be able to get a ticket to sit in the audience anymore. He’s not welcome. If Will Smith was invited back, SNL would never get another big celebrity ever again. Stars would rightly boycott the show if he was welcomed inside Studio 8H.”
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A Peek Into the Events That Triggered SNL to Ban Will Smith
On the day of the 94th Academy Awards, Chris Rock who was presented with the opportunity of hosting the award show was physically assaulted for making a joke about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia. The confusion and panic that followed after Smith walked down from the stage were ones that echoed through the panorama of audiences, institutions, households, and the general public. An actor as respected and recognized as him had turned his reputation and the public’s perception sour with one swift move.
The Academy was not quick to react, as was the case with most people present. In the following hour, Will Smith walked back on stage to get his Oscar. By the end of the night, the celebrity affair had begun taking sides and opining on the incident. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences declared a ban on Will Smith for a period of 10 years starting from April 8, 2022. But, the victim of the slap, Chris Rock healed from the fallout. He simply responded, “F*ck your hostage video” when Smith kept publicly apologizing and seeking to reach out.
Chris Rock is currently touring the world hosting his stand-up show, Ego Death World Tour 2022.
Source: Radar Online
