(CNN) –– The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences told its members that its leaders are “upset and outraged” by Will Smith’s behavior during Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, in a letter obtained by CNN hours before a key meeting on the Oscars. Smith’s future.
Smith He went on stage at the awards ceremony and slapped Chris Rock after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, the actor’s wife.
The letter from Academy President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson says the group is working on a “determination” about the “appropriate action” for Smith, a decision that could “take a few weeks,” according to reports. read. The letter states that the process will be carried out in a convenient and respectful manner for all involved, maintaining the standards of the Academy.
As CNN previously reported, the Academy’s board of governors will hold its annual post-Oscars meeting on Wednesday. And the Smith slap will be his “top priority,” according to a source close to the process. That meeting is expected to take place in the afternoon.
“Great consequences” for Will Smith’s slap at the Academy Awards
This Tuesday, Whoopi Goldberg, a member of the Academy’s board of directors, had already warned that there will be “big consequences” after Will Smith’s action on stage.
“Let me say this, there are consequences,” Goldberg said, host of ABC’s The View, this Tuesday on the show. “There are big consequences because no one, no one agrees with what happened. No one, no one. What’s happening is people are now starting to calm down and say, ‘Wait a minute, what could have triggered this?'”
Goldberg also addressed questions about why Smith wasn’t pulled from the broadcast after the onstage incident with Rock and was seen chatting with other stars.
“The reason people got up is because I think a lot of people thought ‘is it collapsing? Do we have to take it out? What do we have to do?’” Goldberg said. “And the reason they didn’t go and take him out is because that would have been another 15 or 20 minute explanation of why we’re taking the black man out five seconds before they decide if he won an Oscar or not.”