News culture This Hollywood star was reportedly banned from the Oscars for 20 years: her speech really didn’t please the organizers

Culture news This Hollywood star was reportedly banned from the Oscars for 20 years: his speech really didn’t please the organizers

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An actor with certain celebrity…

Although the most famous actors of the moment seem to change every two or three years, or even faster, some manage to make a name for themselves for several generations. This is the case, for example, with Hollywood giants like George Clooney, Meryl Streep or Morgan Freeman, to name a few. A few years ago, another actor seemed well on his way to achieving the same fame: the famous Richard Gere.

Now 75 years old, the American actor has had a particularly full career. He has appeared in absolutely legendary films such as American Gigolo Or Officer and Gentlemanbut especially in the timeless comedy Pretty Woman alongside Julia Roberts. Yet, despite a career that has never really stopped continuing (with films that are still as striking as ever, Chicago Or Hatchi), Richard Gere’s fame seems to have taken a bit of a hit since the 1990s. A connection to his supposed ban from the Oscars? Maybe.

…who would have been banned from Oscars for 20 years

This is a story that regularly circulates on the net: Richard Gere reportedly banned from attending the Oscars for up to 20 years. A pretty significant punishment that is rarely seen in this very privileged environment, and which seems to be given out very randomly (Harvey Weinstein absolutely deserved his, but what about Will Smith?). To understand the context around Richard Gere’s supposed punishment, we have to go back to 1993.

That year, at the 65th Academy Awards, Richard Gere was chosen to present the Oscar for Best Production Design to Luciana Arrighi and Ian Whittaker for Return to Howards End. However, Rather than sticking to the text and congratulating the winners, the American actor chose to make a committed speech in favor of Tibet.a reason for which he is particularly sensitive:

Knowing how horrible and appalling the human rights situation is in China (and Tibet), I wonder if we could all send some love, truth and a little bit of reason to Deng Xiaoping (the Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China at the time, editor’s note) right now in Beijing, maybe he would take his troops, move them away from Tibet and allow these people to live as free and independent people again.

Following this little error in a script that was a little too simple for his taste, Richard Gere was reportedly banned by the Academy from presenting the Oscars again. At least that’s what the British newspaper told us. The Independent in 2007, without specifying whether the ban also concerned his mere presence at the event or the period concerned. Ten years later, in 2003, he returned to the audience to attend the Oscars ceremony while the film Chicago (in which he played the role of Billy Flynn) was awarded. And ten years later, in 2013, he was there again and this time even on stage to present the award for best film music and best original song. The 20-year period associated with the banishment would surely come from there, sinceHe was not actually a presenter of the ceremony between 1993 and 2013.

Today, it is impossible to know whether Richard Gere was completely banned from the ceremony for 20 years or not. While the Hollywood Reporter mentioned in 2017 that the producer of the ceremony had indeed declared that he wanted to do it, GQ magazine had reported the voice of the Academy of Oscars which would have declared “We do not ban presenters”, as indicated Collider. Richard Gere, for his part, insists that he was not welcome at the ceremony, even though he did not see much harm in it. It’s hard to prove him wrong when you notice that he has never been directly nominated for a statuette despite his meritorious career, and despite the fact that he has already been rewarded in other ceremonies.

Furthermore, Richard Gere has indeed been banned from going to China for the rest of his life. He also admits himself that his stance earned him a few rejections of roles in Hollywood from producers who were too afraid to give up on the Chinese market. A fate that pushed him to redirect himself towards slightly more modest or even independent films, but which he welcomed with open arms. This year, he was even at Cannes when the film Oh Canada (in which he plays alongside Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi) was in competition.