Sources say the offending joke was not part of the rehearsals earlier in the week

It could have been an opportunity for Will Smith to be the bigger man, to raise awareness of his wife’s situation, and de-escalate something he thought was inappropriate, but instead he acted like a child and slapped a man doing a job. Chris Rock has reportedly decided to not press charges, but Will Smith needs to face consequences for the physical violence he brought to an otherwise boring telecast.

I’m definitely not suggesting that he be permanently banned from the Academy or from other movies, but there needs to be something from him that acknowledges the seriousness of the situation, gives the steps he’s going to take to prevent it from happening in the future, and maybe a cooling off time out on public appearances for the next couple years.

People make mistakes, what’s important is how they recover from them, if they ever do.

Via