text: Will Smith walked onstage and slapped Rock across the face, then returned to his seat and told Rock, twice, to "Keep my wife's name out [of] your fucking mouth!" While later accepting the Best Actor award for King Richard, Smith apologized to the Academy and the other nominees, but not to Rock.Rock decided not to press charges against Smith.On April 8, 2022, the Academy made an announcement via a letter sent by president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson informing the public that Will Smith had received a ten-year ban from attending the Oscars as a result of the incident.Refusals of the award Some winners critical of the Academy Awards have boycotted the ceremonies and refused to accept their Oscars.The first to do so was screenwriter Dudley Nichols (Best Writing in 1935 for The Informer).Nichols boycotted the 8th Academy Awards ceremony because of conflicts between the Academy and the Writers' Guild.Nichols eventually accepted the 1935 award three years later, at the 1938 ceremony.Nichols was nominated for three further Academy Awards during his career.George C.Scott became the second person to refuse his award (Best Actor in 1970 for Patton) at the 43rd Academy Awards ceremony.Scott described it as a "meat parade", saying, "I don't want any part of it." The third person to refuse the award was Marlon Brando, who refused his award (Best Actor for 1972's The Godfather), citing the film industry's discrimination and mistreatment of Native Americans.At the 45th Academy Awards ceremony, Brando asked actress and civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather to read a 15-page speech in his place, detailing his criticisms, for which there was booing and cheering by the audience.Littlefeather was much later discovered to have falsely misrepresented her ancestry as Native American, that is, she was found to be a pretendian.