Will Smith should return his Oscar, Academy member says

Will Smith has been banned from the Oscars for 10 years. Photo / Getty Images

A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has called Will Smith's Oscar ban a "toothless penalty" - and says the actor should give back his Best Actor Oscar.

Veteran actor Harry Lennix likened the situation to "an extended time out for a playground bully" that "lays bare the shallowness of Hollywood morals" in an opinion piece for Variety.

The actor said it was "galling" that Smith had been allowed to accept the Oscar for his role in King Richard moments after taking to the stage to slap Chris Rock.

"Smith's brutality stripped the entire evening of its prestige," Lennix, wrote.

"That was proven when stunned Oscar attendees gave a standing ovation to someone who'd just committed an assault in front of their eyes."

Rock had cracked an insensitive joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who lives with the hair loss condition alopecia.

"With one deft blow, Will Smith created an existential crisis for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences," Lennix said.

"The incident was such a jolt to societal norms that it will gnaw away at our national conscience until somehow properly atoned for."

Will Smith has been banned from the Oscars for 10 years. Photo / Getty Images

Smith resigned from the Academy before it put the 10-year ban into place, but Lennix said the punishment did not fit the crime.

"The stain on the Motion Picture Academy cannot be easily remediated. The only hope for a justifiable grace must involve Smith voluntarily returning his award for best actor."

Smith apologised to the comedian online a day after the incident. Rock declined to press charges.

The Academy was reportedly split on the decision to force Smith to return his award.

Several noted that the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski had been allowed to keep theirs, while others argued that the public nature of Smith's attack demanded that his award be rescinded.