Indeed; I meant that if Average Joe made a joke about Average Bob's wife at the pub, and Bob then slapped Joe in the face, it's VERY unlikely the police would even arrest anyone let alone that it would result in criminal charges (unless Bob had previous).

If Bob closed-fist punched Joe and left him with a broken nose and two black eyes then it's more likely.

Thats partly why I think Will Smith knew exactly what he was doing to an extent (i.e. if he'd walked up and punched Rock in the mouth, then he might well end up being arrested)

Part of his intro of his
full show 12:15AM Tues:
SkyComedyHD

[The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
set to determine Friday whether Will Smith
will be stripped of his Best Actor Oscar
after slapping comedian Chris Rock on the show's stage]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ses-Oscar.html

he has been banned from the oscars for 10 years

If they've banned him for a decade, then it's likely he'll get his award stripped.

That's ridiculous. He made a stupid mistake, he should get to keep his Oscar at least!

More overreaction in the modern world.

If his Oscar is taken away then it speaks volumes with Hollywood, as they're happy for Roman Polanski & Harvey Weinstein to keep their awards.

It's such ashame as this is Will Smith's first Oscar,and he's gone and ruined it . If they had to ban him then they should have just banned him for 1 year not 10 years .

Make him a male gay porn fluffer for 300 hours community service.

The difference between Smith and the other names being mentioned is that Smith did it during the show, his actions were seen by millions in the here and now. The other people mentioned had actions in the dim and distant past. Under those circumstances, Smiths actions were always going to be more harshly dealt with

This is why I think they MAY not strip the Oscar - I feel that the long ban, more than being for "what he did" - is because of how much he disrupted the event and the reputational damage caused. I don't think, for example, that he'd be getting such a long ban (or likely even a ban at all) if he'd run into Rock at an after-party event and hit him there... it's not about him hitting him... it's about him walking onto the stage and doing it (and then also, allegedly, refusing to leave).

It’s a long ban…and quite rightly so. They probably didn’t want to take his Oscar away which is why it’s a long ban.

They have already said this will not happen

The award needs to be stripped

No it does NOT

God knows where it's been by now anyway.