Will Smith resigned from the Academy after the scandal over the aggression of Chris Rock at the Oscars

Will Smith has submitted his resignation to the body that awards the Oscars following his attack on Chris Rock during the weekend's ceremony, according to a statement released on Friday.

“I resign from being a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and I will accept any other consequences that the Board deems appropriate,” the actor wrote in a statement collected by Variety.

“My actions at the 94th Academy Awards were shocking, painful and inexcusable. The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, everyone in attendance and the global audience at home.”

Attendees at the Dolby Theatre watched Smith take to the stage and slap Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke on his wife's head, very cropped.

Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, a disease that causes hair loss.

He returned to his seat and shouted obscenities at Rock, who has been widely praised for keeping a cool head and getting back on track.

Half an hour after the surprising attack, Smith received the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the sports biopic “King Richard”.

In recent days there have been conflicting reports about whether Smith was asked to leave the ceremony, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has said he refused to go.

The group said this week that it was initiating disciplinary action against Smith - only the fifth black man to win the most important individual film award for a man in the world - and warned that he could face a rare expulsion.

“I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I have deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. My heart is broken,” Smith said.

“I want to refocus attention on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to return to the incredible work it does to support creativity and art in film.”

Rock, who told a comedy audience in Boston this week that he was “still processing” the events, has received praise for the way he handled events.

Oscar producer Will Packer told ABC that it was the comedian's professionalism that allowed the show to go ahead.

“Thanks to Chris continuing the way he did, he completed the category. He handed the trophy to [the winner of the best documentary] Questlove... he gave us a license in a way to continue the show, which is what we were trying to do,” he said.

Packer said he had advised not to expel Smith from the theater after talking to Rock when he came down from the stage. “I said, 'Did he really hit you? ' And he looked at me and said, 'Yes. I just got a punch from Muhammad Ali, '” Packer said. Smith played the legendary boxer in the 2001 film “Ali”.

Packer said he had not participated in the conversation about Smith's elimination, but that he had spoken out against it.

“I immediately went to the direction of the Academy that was on site and said, 'Chris Rock doesn't want that, 'I said, 'Rock has made it clear that he doesn't want to make a bad situation worse.'”

The ovation Smith received for his Oscar victory has been heavily criticized, with accusations that Hollywood did not take the assault seriously.

Packer said the applause was for the actor and his work, not for the incident.

“I think the people in that room who stood up, stood up because of someone they knew, who was a colleague, who was a friend, who was a brother, who has a career of more than three decades of being the opposite of what we saw at that time,” he said.

“I don't think they were people who applauded anything at the time, and all these people saw their friend at his absolute worst and hoped they could cheer him up and somehow try to improve him.”

(With information from AFP)

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