The Will Smith/Chris Rock moment of the Oscars is set to be formally reviewed, as ratings for the show shoot up by nearly 50% on last year.
Well, if the aim of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences – that’d be AMPAS – was to boost the ratings for the Oscars, it got its wish. It got a whole host of other things to deal with, but it got its wish.
The Oscars, which managed to cut out the live handing out of eight awards from its telecast and still managed to be even longer than before, enjoyed ratings that shot up in the US by nearly 50%. 15.36 million watched the show in the States, compared to 10.4 million for last year’s scaled down version.
Separately, AMPAS has now confirmed it will undertaking a formal review of the moment when Chris Rock mocked Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith then taking, er, ‘action’. Rock wasn’t seen again during the evening, Smith got a standing ovation and a Best Actor Oscar a little while later.
A statement from the Academy – it’s been issuing a few of these – has now been released, reading ““The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law”.
What’s unlikely is that Smith will, as had been suggested, be asked to return his Oscar. Instead, he’ll get some punishment that won’t presumably make much difference to anyone.
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