"[15] Until Smith's acceptance speech, the reportedly stunned and confused audience expected an official acknowledgement from the stage, and those in the mezzanine level occasionally stood to peer over the balcony to seek action below.

He focused his emotional speech on divine justification and his need to protect those around him: "Love will make you do crazy things", he said, and apologized to the Academy, the other nominees, and to Williams's daughters Venus and Serena, who were in attendance.

[52] The Academy's Board of Governors intended to explore further action and consequences in accordance with its bylaws, its standards of conduct, and with California law, scheduled for March 30.

[53][54] AMPAS President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson issued a subsequent letter to Academy members, noting that the official process would take a few weeks.

Smith was invited to provide a written response within a fifteen-day period, after which the Board of Governors would vote on whether "suspension, expulsion or other sanctions under the Academy's standards of conduct" would be applied.

Numerous Academy members said that AMPAS should, at the very least, suspend his membership, citing the organization's standards of conduct implemented eight weeks after Harvey Weinstein's sexual misdeeds were exposed.

"[73] In June 2020, it was announced that Smith starred in Emancipation, directed by Antoine Fuqua, in which he portrays Peter, a runaway slave who outsmarts hunters and the Louisiana swamp on a journey to the Union Army.

"[78] Chris Rock spoke out about Smith for the first time in his Netflix stand-up comedy special Selective Outrage in March 2023, making numerous jokes about the incident.

[88] Questlove was asked about the incident by a reporter in a backstage press conference immediately after leaving the stage, and declined, "I'm not talking about that tonight, this is about the Harlem Cultural Festival.

"[89] On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the next night, Questlove said he did not notice the slap in the moment because he was using Transcendental Meditation to curb his anxiety before the winner was called, and did not realize what had happened until "maybe three seconds before I spoke words".

Celebrities who sympathized with Smith include Jeremy Clarkson,[92] Bradley Cooper,[93] Tyrese Gibson,[94] Tiffany Haddish,[95] Kevin Hart,[96] Jameela Jamil,[97] Nicki Minaj,[98][99] Tyler Perry,[100] Jon Voight,[101] and Denzel Washington.

[102] Celebrities who criticized Smith include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,[103] Tim Allen,[104] Pedro Almodóvar,[105] Judd Apatow,[98] Thomas Haden Church,[106] Steve Coogan,[107] Kevin Costner,[108] Mia Farrow,[98] Kathy Griffin,[109] Mark Hamill,[109] Zoë Kravitz,[110] Mila Kunis,[111] John Leguizamo,[112] Seth MacFarlane,[113] Rosie O'Donnell,[114] Rob Reiner,[109] Paul Rodriguez,[115] Joe Rogan,[116] Amy Schumer,[117] Chevy Chase,[118] Howard Stern,[119] and Wanda Sykes.

[121] In the clips taken from a CBS Mornings interview, Carrey stated, "You do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face because they said words",[122] and that he would have sued Smith for $200 million if he were in Rock's position, saying, "That video is going to be there forever.

Many comedians, including George Wallace and Kathy Griffin, spoke out about how the incident had worried them about potential future confrontations, and that they might be more careful about the topics of jokes going forward.

She also criticized the control the AMPAS had over the ceremony, contrasting how she was restricted from joking about Halyna Hutchins's death in the Rust shooting incident against Smith's ability to "just come up and [slap] someone".

[131][132][133] The Laugh Factory expressed its support of the First Amendment for comedians in the wake of the incident, and comedy clubs around the United States, including Stand Up NY and Carolines on Broadway, announced that they would be increasing security measures.

[138] During the next Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel joked that in case of unexpected violence, his attacker would be "allowed to stay at the ceremony", "win Best Actor", and "spend the night partying while listening to 'Gettin' Jiggy wit It' at the afterparty".

[147] Rishi Sunak, British Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, compared himself to Will Smith, having recently had his wife Akshata Murty criticized over owning shares in a tech company based in Russia, but humorously remarked "At least I didn't get up and slap anybody".

[156] However, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explained that the idea of "pressing charges" is a legal misconception, and that the choice was ultimately up to the office of Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer.

[157] Criminal defense lawyer Alison Triessl echoed these sentiments, saying, "I would [be] surprised if the city attorney does not seriously consider [charges] because it was so public ... Are they sending the wrong message if they don't prosecute him? [...]

"[158] Chief legal analyst Aron Solomon of Esquire Digital, wrote, "It is clear that what happened at the Oscars was an assault under the California statutory definition."

Tarek Fatah wrote in The Toronto Sun, "Of the two men in the discussion, only one of them broke the law at the Oscars and got away with it because the LAPD stood back and let it happen ... Only when Will Smith is charged with assault and battery will it show that justice is blind".

Alan Jackson said, "To be arrested on a misdemeanor, it has to happen in front of the authorities, or conversely the person against whom the crime was allegedly committed has to file a formal complaint with police".

[160] Defense attorney Lou Shapiro argued that Smith was not being given any special treatment by not being arrested, stating, "On a simple battery with no injury, LAPD is not deviating from the norm on this one.

[170] Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update discussed the way the Academy handled the incident, with Colin Jost quipping, "So now we just ask the victim right after they get hit in the head?

[174] Monash University professor at the School of Education Culture and Society, Steven Roberts, agreed that the incident belonged within the larger context of toxic masculinity.

Roberts concluded that this was "another timely reminder that we need to invest in and promote forms of masculinity that are premised on democratic gender relations that centre on empathy and care".

[178] In a collaborative academic analysis of the incident, Monash University professors Steven Zech, Beatriz Gallo Cordoba, Lucas Walsh, and Matteo Bonotti, concluded, "Violence (also a form of incivility) is unacceptable, but civility, and when and how to enact it, is complicated.

"[179] Chris Rock and others widely speculated that Smith's assault was influenced by his possibly lingering agitation about his wife's previous and intense four-year extramarital affair with their son's friend August Alsina, who is 21 years her junior.

[185] Writing for The Guardian, Tayo Bero also described the treatment of Smith as "inequality in plain sight", and noted that the Academy took no action over the furor at the 1973 ceremony where John Wayne allegedly had to be restrained by six security guards to prevent him from assaulting Sacheen Littlefeather, an activist for Native American civil rights.