Why was Richard Gere banned from the Oscars for 20…
Long before Will Smith’s notorious slap incident, Richard Gere landed in Oscars sizzling water.
In a latest interview with Variety revealed Dec. 3, Gere, 76, spoke out about his emotions about his 20-year ban from the Academy Awards.
“I didn’t take it particularly personally,” the “Pretty Woman” actor explained. “I didn’t think there were any bad guys in the situation. I do what I do, and I certainly don’t mean anyone any harm.”
Just what was he speaking about?
Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford attend the 63rd Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, March 25, 1991. Getty Images
Richard Gere during the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2024 in Venice, Italy. WireImage
Gere has been associates with the Dalai Lama for 45 years, he told the outlet. The actor has steadily criticized China and advocated for Tibet. He’s been banned from China for life.
His most latest project is govt producing a 2025 documentary about the Dalai Lama titled, (*20*)
Why was Richard Gere banned from the Oscars?
In 1993, when the “An Officer and a Gentleman” actor was presenting at the ceremony, he made off-script remarks to denounce China’s “Horrendous, horrendous human rights issue” in Tibet.
Gere was supposed to be onstage to listing the nominees for Best Art Direction. “Howard’s End” took home the trophy, that yr.
But instead of studying off the teleprompter, Gere took a detour in his speech to say, “I had a thought about something, actually, before I came out. I want to share it with you. It’s going to be short. I was really struck by this idea that there were one billion people watching this thing. It’s astonishing—one billion people watching. And I was curious about what countries this was actually going to. And it is in fact being seen in China right now.”
Richard Gere on stage during the eighth Annual Governors Awards hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, California on November 12, 2016. AFP via Getty Images
He added, “And the first thought that came to me was, I wondered if Deng Xiaoping is actually watching this right now, with his children and his grandchildren, and with the knowledge that—that—that—what a horrendous, horrendous human rights situation there is in China, not only towards their own people but to Tibet as well.”
Gere continued, “And when it was this type of…if one thing miraculous, actually type of movielike, may occur right here, where we may all type of ship love and reality and a type of sanity to Deng Xiaoping proper now in Beijing, that he’ll take his troops and take the Chinese away from Tibet and enable people to live as free impartial people again. So, thought… We ship this thought—we ship this thought out. Send this thought. Anyhow…artwork direction calls for style…
Following that speech, the “Primal Fear” actor didn’t return to current at the Academy Awards until 20 years later, in 2013. However, he did attend the ceremony in 2003 when his film “Chicago” was nominated for “Best Picture.”
Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere during sixty fifth Annual Academy Awards at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, March 29, 1993. Getty Images
Previously in 2007, the Academy denied that Gere was banned. At the time, a consultant told GQ, “We don’t ban presenters. There’s no such thing as a ban.”
However, after the 2022 Oscars incident in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on Live TV, The Academy did ban Smith for 10 years.
In April of 2022, the board launched a assertion that they’d “decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards.”
The Post reached out to the Oscars for remark.
Halle Berry and Richard Gere attend the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscar Party bruary 24, 2013 in West Hollywood, California. WireImage
The Oscars never launched an official ban assertion for Gere prefer it did for Smith. But the show’s late producer, Gil Cates, reportedly vowed to ban him.
According to the LA Times, in 1993, Cates said about Gere, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins — who also made political feedback at the that yr, advocating on behalf of Haiti — “I wouldn’t invite them to my home, and I won’t invite them to a future show.”
Gere, who is a Buddhist and a chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, also called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics if China didn’t peacefully deal with unrest in the area.
In 2017, Gere told The Hollywood Reporter that his stance has had a lasting influence on his profession.
“There are definitely movies that I can’t be in because the Chinese will say, ‘Not with him.’ I recently had an episode where someone said they could not finance a film with me because it would upset the Chinese.”
Carey Lowell with Richard Gere during The seventy fifth Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, 2003. WireImage
The actor has never been nominated for an Oscar, despite getting a Golden Globe nomination for 2002’s “Chicago.”
The “American Gigolo” actor recalled an incident when he was going to work with an unnamed Chinese director.
“And two weeks before we were going to shoot, he called saying, ‘Sorry, I can’t do it.’ We had a secret phone call on a protected line. If I had worked with this director, he, his family would never have been allowed to leave the country ever again, and he would never work.”
Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford attend the sixty fourth Annual Academy Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, March 30, 1992. Getty Images
The actor recalled another incident when he starred in the 1997 film “Red Corner” as an American businessman in China who has been falsely accused of homicide.
“Everyone was happy with the film,” he recalled.
“I get calls from the heads of the studio. Went on ‘Oprah.’ Then, out of nowhere, I get calls saying, ‘We don’t want you doing press.’ MGM wanted to make an overall deal with the Chinese. China told them, ‘If you release this film, we’re not buying it.’ And so, they dumped it.”
When requested about the Oscars alleged ban, Gere said, “I didn’t have to put on a tuxedo again. I was fine with that.”
Gere has continued to work, starring in a 2023 rom com, “Maybe I Do,” with the late Diane Keaton, and he also stars in the Showtime espionage drama “The Agency” produced by George Clooney.
He also said it doesn’t hassle him to keep away from popcorn flicks.
“I’m not interested in playing the wizened Jedi in your tentpole,” he said.
“The studios are interested in the possibility of making huge profits. But I’m still making the same films that I was making when I started. Small, interesting, character driven and narrative driven stories. It hasn’t impacted my life at all.”
We present you with the trending topics. Get the best latest Entertainment news and content on our web site daily.
