A full list of celebrities excluded from the 2024 Oscars has been released in preparation for Sunday’s 96th awards ceremony.
The Oscars are considered the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry and are presented every year around the beginning of March.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has drawn up a list banning those who have violated their code of conduct for various reasons.
Will Smith is the latest celebrity to be added to the list after the infamous moment he punched comedian Chris Rock in the face at the 2022 Oscars.
Will Smith, 55, was banned from the Academy Awards in April 2022 after punching Chris Rock in the face during the show
A list of the banned celebrities can be found below:
Will Smith
At the 94th Academy Awards, Rock was presenting the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the event at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood when he joked about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
He compared her to Demi Moore’s bald appearance in the 1997 film GI Jane. Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia and did not laugh at the joke.
Smith then approached the stage and hit Rock hard in the face with his right hand.
“Will Smith just beat the shit out of me,” Rock said from the stage after he was hit.
Smith returned to his seat next to his wife after the outburst and shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your damn mouth!”
On April 8, it was announced that Smith was banned from the Oscars for ten years for punching Rock, but would be allowed to keep his Best Actor award.
Smith, 55, said he “accepted” and “respected” the academy’s decision to ban him from the awards both in-person and virtually.
Smith said he “accepted” and “respected” the academy’s decision to ban him from the awards both in-person and virtually for 10 years.
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein was expelled from the academy in 2017 following his sexual abuse allegations.
He was later convicted of crimes dating back decades and was sentenced to 23 years in New York’s Wende Correctional Facility.
The once-powerful media mogul, 71, was found guilty of rape and two other counts of sexual assault during a trial in Los Angeles in December 2023, after previously being convicted of sex crimes in New York City in 2020.
In response, the Academy said Weinstein’s actions were “abhorrent, abhorrent and inconsistent with the high standards of the academy and the creative community it represents.”
He was also suspended by the British Academy Film Awards and kicked out of his production company.
Harvey Weinstein, 71, was expelled from the academy in 2017 following his sexual abuse allegations
Bill Cosby
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby was banned from the awards show for life in 2018 after being convicted of sexual assault.
Cosby, 86, was convicted in April 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting basketball coach Andrea Constand in 2004.
He was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, but served only three years of his sentence in Pennsylvania High Council quashed the conviction.
He was released on June 30, 2021, and was seen in New York City for the first time since his release in April 2023.
“The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity,” the Academy said in a statement following his conviction and ban from the show.
Bill Cosby, 86, was banned for life from the awards ceremony in 2018 after being convicted of sexual assault
Adam Kimmel
Cinematographer Adam Kimmel, 64, was expelled from the Academy in 2021 due to his history of sex crimes.
After being arrested twice for statutory abuse of minors, he was blacklisted by the Academy for violating their code of conduct.
Kimmel, who worked in hit films such as Capote, Never Let Me Go and Beautiful Girls, is a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl when he was 43 in 2003, before launching a budding Hollywood career.
They had sex at least ten times in New York City in August 2003. He pleaded guilty to rape the following year, but continues to maintain that the sex was consensual “with someone under the age of consent.”
Cinematographer Adam Kimmel (left) was expelled from the Academy in 2021 due to his history of sex crimes
Roman Polanski
French-Polish director Roman Polanski was expelled from the Academy for life in 2018 after having sexual intercourse with a minor.
Polanski fled the US in 1977 and made his way to France after pleading guilty to the crime.
He received five Academy nominations and won Best Director for his biological Holocaust war drama, The Pianist, despite being physically unable to attend the ceremony as he was wanted by US authorities.
Since his lifetime ban, Polanski has not been nominated and is not allowed to attend the Oscars.
French-Polish director Roman Polanski was expelled from the Academy for life in 2018 after having sexual intercourse with a minor
Karmijn Caridi
Actor Carmine Caridi became the first person to be permanently expelled by the Academy in 2004.
The Godfather Part II and Part III star, who died in 2019 at the age of 85, was deported for illegally distributing about 60 VHS tapes of future films to his friend Russell Sprague.
The FBI investigated his crimes and he was slapped with an infringement lawsuit by Sony and Warner Bros.
Actor Carmine Caridi was the first person to be permanently banned by the Academy in 2004 after illegally distributing approximately 60 VHS tapes of future films to his friend Russell Sprague.
Sprague posted copies of the films online, but died of a heart attack during his legal proceedings.
Caridi was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, but the Academy stood by its position and banned him for violating its agreement to protect their screeners.
Richard Gere
Richard Gere was banned from the Oscars for 20 years in 1993 after going off script during a speech and criticizing the “horrible, horrible human rights situation” in Tibet.
He attended the ceremony with his then supermodel wife Cindy Crawford and during his speech he also spoke about the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping.
Richard Gere was banned from the Oscars for 20 years in 1993 after going off script during a speech and criticizing the “horrible, horrible human rights situation” in Tibet. His ban was lifted in 2003
After ten years, the Academy decided to release the Pretty Woman star from his ban and allow him to have the Chicago musical he starred in nominated for awards in 2003.
He then presented the awards in 2013, telling the Huffington Post that he had been “rehabilitated.”
“It seems like if you stay around long enough, they forget they banned you,” he added.