Will Smith gets 10-year Oscars ban over Chris Rock slap

The motion picture academy on Friday banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years following his slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, Associated Press reported.

The move comes after a meeting of the academy’s Board of Governors to discuss a response to Smith’s actions. 

“The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage,” the academy said in a statement. 

“I accept and respect the Academy’s decision,” Smith said in response. He pre-emptively resigned from the academy last week during the run-up to the meeting, calling his actions “shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”

Smith will keep the Oscar he won after the slap, and he will remain eligible to be nominated for and to win more of them in the 10-year period, though he can’t show up to accept them, according to the Associated Press.

The academy also apologized for its handling of the situation and allowing Smith to stay and accept his best actor award for “King Richard.” 

“During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. For this, we are sorry,” the academy said. “This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short — unprepared for the unprecedented.”

In a statement in the days following the Oscars, the academy said Smith was asked to leave the ceremony but refused. 

But it’s not clear how the message was delivered to Smith or what form it took, and several media outlets reported that he was never formally told to leave the Dolby Theatre. The Los Angeles Times reported in a story Thursday that Oscars producer Will Packer told Smith: “Officially, we don’t want you to leave. We want you to stay.”

The ban means Smith will not be presenting one of the major awards at next year’s Oscars, as is tradition for the best actor winner, Associated Press reported. 

The academy in its Friday statement also expressed “deep gratitude to Mr. Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances.”

The academy has not revoked Oscars from expelled members Harvey Weinstein or Roman Polanski.

With his resignation last week, Smith lost the ability to vote for nominees and winners. Smith has been nominated for four Oscars, winning once. 

At the March 27 Academy Awards, Rock came out to present the best documentary award and made jokes about several attendees, including Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

“Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,” Rock said. 

Pinkett Smith, who has spoken publicly about her hair loss condition, alopecia, had a closely shaved head similar to that of Demi Moore in the 1997 movie, according to the Associated Press.

Smith strode from his front-row seat on to the stage and smacked Rock, stunning the comedian, the theater crowd and viewers at home. 

Many thought it was a planned gag set up by the show or the men themselves, but the seriousness of the situation set in after Smith returned to his seat and angrily twice shouted at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out your (expletive) mouth.” 

Rock said he had no interest in pursuing charges when asked by police backstage. 

Smith took the stage again less than hour later to accept his Oscar, tearfully apologizing to the academy but notably omitting any mention of Rock. He compared himself to Richard Williams, the man he played in “King Richard,” “a fierce defender of his family.”

Later that night, Smith danced with his trophy and his family and rapped along with his own songs in celebration of his win at the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party, Associated Press reported.

Rock has only briefly addressed the attackpublicly, saying at one comedy concert in Boston this week that he was still “kind of processing what happened.”

Pink Floyd joins forces with wounded Ukrainian singer in new song

British rock band Pink Floyd will release a new song on Friday to raise money for humanitarian relief in Ukraine, featuring the vocals of a Ukrainian singer who quit an international tour to fight for his country and was wounded, Reuters reported.

The single "Hey Hey, Rise Up" - Pink Floyd's first original new music in almost 30 years - was recorded last week and highlights singing by Andriy Khlyvnyuk from Ukrainian band Boombox, which was taken from a social media post.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour said he learned that Khlyvnyuk - with whom he had previously performed - left a US tour with Boombox and returned to Ukraine to join the Territorial Defence Forces.

"Then I saw this incredible video on Instagram, where he stands in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and sings in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war," Gilmour said on Pink Floyd's website.

"It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music."

Gilmour said he spoke with Khlyvnyuk while he was in a hospital in Kyiv recovering from a mortar shrapnel injury, according to Reuters.

"I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future," he said.

Gilmour said he had a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren and he was feeling "the fury and the frustration" of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Moscow has said it is engaged in a special operation to degrade Ukraine's military capabilities and root out nationalists.

The track, which samples Khlyvnyuk singing a World War One protest song, also features Nick Mason, a founding member of Pink Floyd, as well as Gilmour and other musicians, Reuters reported.

Ed Sheeran wins copyright case over 2017 hit ‘Shape of You’

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran won a UK copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You” on Wednesday, then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial, Associated Press reported.

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015′s “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.

“Whilst we’re obviously happy with the result, I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheerhan said in a video posted on Twitter. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-writers of “Oh Why,″ argued that there was an “indisputable similarity between the works.” He claimed that Sheeran had “Oh Why” in his head “consciously or unconsciously” when “Shape of You” was written in 2016, according to the Associated Press.

The plaintiffs alleged that the refrain “Oh I, Oh I, Oh I” in the chorus of “Shape Of You” was “strikingly similar” to the line “Oh why, Oh why, Oh why” in their track.

During the 11-day trial, Sheeran denied allegations that he “borrows” ideas from unknown songwriters without acknowledgement and said he has always been fair in crediting people who contribute to his albums.

In Wednesday’s ruling, High Court Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from “Oh Why″ when writing his smash hit.

Sheeran, McDaid and Mac said in a statement that the cost of the case was more than financial. The stress of going to trial also hurts creativity, means less time to make music and takes an emotional toll, they said, Associated Press reported.

“It is so painful to hear someone publicly and aggressively challenge your integrity,″ the trio said. “It is so painful to have to defend yourself against accusations that you have done something that you haven’t done, and would never do.″

“Shape of You” was the biggest-selling song in the U.K. in 2017, according to the Associated Press.

Britney Spears: Singer confirms she is writing new memoir

Britney Spears has confirmed that she is in the process of writing a book, confirming recent reports in US media that the star intended to pen a new tell-all memoir, BBC reported.

Spears shared the news in a message posted on Instagram on Monday night. 

The singer said the memoir will tackle painful events in her life that she has "never been able to express openly". 

In November, a judge ended a legal guardianship that controlled many aspects of her life for over a decade.

Spears was put into a conservatorship managed by her father, Jamie Spears, in 2008, when the star faced a mental health crisis. 

The controversial arrangement allowed him to take power over her finances and career decisions plus major personal matters, such as her visits to her teenage sons and whether she could remarry.

While the star didn't reveal any details about a potential release date or publisher, Page Six reported in February that she had reached a $15m ($11.4m) deal with the publishing house Simon & Schuster to chronicle her life, career and relationship with her family during and after her conservatorship, according to BBC.

Spears wrote that the process of writing the book has been "healing and therapeutic," though she added that it had been difficult bringing up past events in her life. 

The 40-year old added that she has taken an "intellectual approach" to writing the memoir. 

However the star also hit out at her mother and sister, who she accused of taking an "indulgence by writing their own books as I couldn't even get a cup of coffee of drive my car". 

Spears has been engaged in a public dispute with her sister, Jamie Lynn, since the later she appeared on Good Morning America to promote her book, Things I Should Have Said. 

The book details her own life story, including her young daughter's near-fatal accident in 2017, her relationship with Britney and the role she played in the singer's controversial conservatorship, BBC reported.