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Joseph Patel criticized Will Smith and Chris Rock for the events that led up to “Summer of Soul” winning the Oscar for best documentary feature Sunday night.
The “Summer of Soul” producer accused Smith of robbing the category of its moment after he slapped Rock on stage before the comedian announced the award.
“It robbed the category of its moment,” the producer wrote in since-deleted tweets, People magazine noted. “It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs.”
He went on to criticize Rock for the way he announced the group of producers. Patel, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, David Dinerstein and Robert Fyvolent won the Oscar for best documentary feature moments after Smith slapped Rock in the face.
Joseph Patel, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, David Dinerstein and Robert Fyvolent won the Oscar for best documentary feature moments after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face.
Rock announced the winners as “Ahmir Thompson and four White guys.”
“Chris Rock lumped me in as 1 of ‘4 white guys,'” Patel tweeted.
“The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award,” he tweeted. “I’m a big boy — I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a s—–, disrespectful thing to do.”
“What both Will AND Chris did really stained what should have been a beautiful moment for us,” Patel continued.
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Will Smith hits Chris Rock before the comedian presented the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars.
(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Patel later deleted the Twitter thread, writing: “We reached the unproductive portion of the viral Twitter thread so I’ve deleted it. I said what I needed to say and feel at peace with it. Some of y’all are weirdos.”
Less than an hour after slapping Rock on stage at the Academy Awards, Smith accepted the best actor award for his role in “King Richard.”
After a board of governors meeting, the Academy revealed it had “initiated disciplinary proceedings” against Smith. The actor has 15 days to submit a written response to be considered by the Academy.
The next board meeting will take place on April 18 and the Academy has said at that meeting it may take “any disciplinary action,” including expulsion or suspension.
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Rock finally addressed the slap Wednesday night at his first comedy show since Sunday’s Oscars.
“How was your weekend?” Rock asked the sold-out crowd at the Wilbur. “I had a whole list of jokes. I had a whole show I wrote before this weekend, and I’m still kind of processing what happened.”
“At some point I’ll talk about that s—, and it will be serious, and it will be funny,” Rock continued.
Will Smith apologized to Chris Rock and the Academy in a lengthy post shared to Instagram.
(P. Lehman/Future Publishing)
Smith publicly apologized to Rock via Instagram.
“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
