6 Former Academy Members Have Been Banned from the Oscars — Here's Why

Mar. 15, 2025

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty; Kevork Djansezian/Getty

While many celebrities have made history at theOscarswith groundbreaking wins, others have made headlines for controversy.

The97th Academy Awards, set to take place on March 2, will see a star-studded lineup of actors, directors and performers walk the red carpet. However, some Hollywood names are guaranteed to be absent.

AfterSmith’s 10-year banwas announced in 2022, the Academy shared its existing Standards of Conduct, which outline the organization’s ethical expectations for members.

The group emphasized that members should “act in a manner consistent with the good reputation of the Academy” and condemned “physical contact that is uninvited and, in the situation, inappropriate and unwelcome.”

The Standards of Conduct also affirm that if a member is found to have violated the standards, the Academy “may take any disciplinary action … up to and including suspension of membership or expulsion from membership.”

Here are six celebrities who have been banned from the Oscars — and what they did to warrant the punishment.

Carmine Caridi

Carmine Caridi attends the ‘Unorganized Crime’ screening at Charlie Chaplin Theatre on Dec. 18, 2016, in Los Angeles, Calif.Araya Diaz/WireImage

Araya Diaz/WireImage

After becoming an Academy member in 1982, Caridi — who died in May 2019 at 85 years old — regularly received advance screeners from distributors. After a man named Russell Sprague repaired his broken VCR, Caridi agreed to lend him some screeners. This continued for some time as he began to send more through the mail.

“I would send them to him before I even looked at them,” Caridi toldThe Hollywood Reporterin February 2017. “And then he would copy them and send them back.”

The FBI eventually caught on and called Caridi in to their Los Angeles office, offering him immunity in exchange for identifying Sprague.

In February 2004, the Academy’s board of governors voted to expel Caridi.

“They wrote me a letter,” he recalled toThe Hollywood Reporter. “‘You’re finished.' ”

Not only wasTheGodfatheractor banned, but he became the first Academy member to be expelled, perThe Hollywood Reporter.

Caridi told the outlet he did not blame the Academy because he knew he violated its rules.

Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein attends The Weinstein Company’s Pre-Oscar dinner in partnership with Bvlgari and Grey Goose at Montage Beverly Hills on Feb. 25, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Prior to his removal, the Academy condemned Weinstein’s alleged conduct as “repugnant, abhorrent, and antithetical to the high standards of the Academy and the creative community it represents.”

“We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over,” the statement continued. “What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society."

Weinstein became the second member to be expelled from the group. The producer wassentenced to 23 years in prisonin 2020 after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault, andan additional 16 yearsin 2023 after beingfound guilty of the same in Los Angeles.

William Thomas Cain/Getty

In April 2018, the disgraced actor wasfound guilty of drugging and sexually assaultingformer Temple University employee Andrea Constand in January 2004, resulting in athree to 10-year prison sentence.

“The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity," the statement continued.

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski with his 2003 Academy Award for Best Director.Pool BENAINOUS/LEFRANC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Pool BENAINOUS/LEFRANC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

The Oscar-winning filmmaker had pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse in 1977 after a 13-year-old girl accused him of giving her alcohol and part of a quaalade. As part of a plea bargain, he served 42 days in jail but fled the U.S. before completing his 90-day sentence, remaining a fugitive for decades.

In an October 2017 interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Polanski reflected on the case, saying, “As far as what I did: It’s over. I pleaded guilty.”

The director still lives in Europe where hecontinues to make movies.

Adam Kimmel

Cinematographer Adam Kimmel attends the afterparty for the premiere of ‘Lars And The Real Girl’ on Oct. 3, 2007, in New York City.Bryan Bedder/Getty

Bryan Bedder/Getty

Cinematographer Adam Kimmel was expelled from the Academy in response to his history as a registered sex offender.

In a statement to the outlet that November, the Academy wrote that their membership selection process is “based on an honor system that relies on the integrity of prospective members, their sponsors, and branch committee members to disclose any disqualifying information.”

Will Smith

Neilson Barnard/Getty

Few moments in Oscar history have been as shocking as Smith slappingChris Rockonstage at the 2022 ceremony.

While Rock was introducing the award for Best Documentary, he aimed a joke at Smith’s wife,Jada Pinkett Smith, saying, “Jada, I love ya.G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see ya.”

Moments later, Smith walked up to the stage andslapped Rock across the face. Rock seemed stunned and said, “Oh wow. Will Smith just smacked the s— out of me.”

Once Smith made it back to his seat, he yelled up to the stage, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—— mouth!”

“This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short — unprepared for the unprecedented,” they wrote.

The letter further explained that the discipline was “a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

source: people.com