Why was Richard Gere banned from the Oscars for 20 years? Speech on stage made Pretty Woman actor disappear from awards – Cinema news

It wasn’t just Will Smith who starred in a scene during Hollywood’s biggest film awards; Years earlier, Richard Gere surprised everyone with his speech.

Will Smith and Chris Rock are not the first protagonists of confusion at the most important cinema ceremony. The event, which has been taking place for 94 years, has been the scene of several riots and controversies, one of them starring heartthrob Richard Gere, known for his roles in Pretty Woman and Always By Your Side.

Although the episode did not involve any aggression like the case with Smith and Rock, Gere ended up irritating some people with his speech at the 65th Academy Awards in 1993, during the nomination for Best Art Direction, which went to Luciana Arrighi and Ian Whittaker for Return to Howard’s End.

Gere took the moment to go off script and begin berating the Chinese government for its treatment of Tibetans and the Chinese people. Gere, a long-time adherent of Tibetan Buddhism, had previously openly criticized China, but at that time the situation was very tense.

With the knowledge of the horrendous human rights situation in China and Tibet, I wonder if we could all send love, truth and sanity to Deng Xiaoping right now in Beijing, if perhaps he would withdraw his troops, get them out of Tibet and allow this people would once again live as free and independent people.

This speech was the direct ticket to his ban from the Oscar ceremony for exactly 20 years, as well as a ban from entering China for the rest of his life. Check out the full video:

Despite this, he returned to the ceremony in 2003 with the triumph of the musical Chicago, nominated for Best Film at that year’s ceremony, in which Gere played lawyer Billy Flynn, one of the protagonists. The film was the big winner of the night, but the actor, who won a Golden Globe for the same character, was snubbed in the categories.

Her official return to the Academy took place in 2013, in its 85th edition, to present the performance of the Best Song nominee and present the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories alongside her co-stars Queen Latifah, Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

At the time, Gere even took advantage of the moment to make a quick joke about the situation: “It seems like I’ve been rehabilitated. It seems like if you wait long enough, they forget that you were vetoed.”

Gere currently has four Golden Globe nominations and a Best Actor win for Chicago, but still no Oscar nominations.

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