The industry — and the academy — are torn on how to handle Will Smith’s Oscars slap

“I don’t think [the academy] will take away his Oscar,” said Matthew Belloni, the former editor of the Hollywood Reporter and founder-partner of Puck, who was in the audience Sunday. “I think the feeling is that the Oscar is for the work and he earned the Oscar, but the punishment will be for his behavior.”

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He also doesn’t think Smith’s academy membership will be revoked, which he described as “Harvey Weinstein territory.” Instead, Belloni said, he thinks the announcement of a “formal review” will result in Smith probably receiving a suspension of six months to a year. “The academy is extremely upset about this,” he said. “I am convinced that there will be significant punishment for him.”

“I think it’s underplayed how embarrassing this is for many academy members. This is their identity. This is their business. This is their craft. And they care a lot about the Oscars. … To have something like this completely kneecap the event and take all the wind out of it and the attention away from the craft and the winners is very angering and embarrassing for a lot of these members,” he added. “If the academy does nothing, there will be a small but vocal uprising within the membership that is very upset.”

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