Star of American Gigolo, revered in An Officer and a Gentleman, and a complete heartthrob in Pretty Woman—Richard Gere has won the hearts of people all across the globe. However, despite his impressive career, the actor has never won an Oscar. Worse yet, like Will Smith, he was in the Academy's black list, but for a completely different reason.
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This story may surprise even his most loyal fans.
Richard Gere goes off script at the 1993 Oscars
In 1993 Richard Gere attended the Oscars with his then wife Cindy Crawford. While presenting the award for Best Production Design, the Pretty Woman star spontaneously decided to ignore the text on the teleprompter—which was seen as a clear disregard of protocol.
Instead, he opted to speak from his heart and convey his stance in a powerful political speech. He spoke of the violation of human rights in Tibet, sharply criticizing the Chinese government and called upon the then-leader of the People's Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping, to release the country. He said, as quoted by The Sun:
If something miraculous and really kind of movie-like could happen here, where we could all send love, truth, and sanity to Deng Xiaoping right now in Beijing, that he would take all of his troops and take the Chinese away from Tibet and allow people to live as free independent people again.
The Academy denies the ban
This unexpected deviation from the official procedure sparked chaos at the Oscars and led to drastic consequences. Not only did Richard Gere become highly unpopular in China, which had an impact on his career, but he was also supposedly 'banned' from appearing at the Oscars. He was not seen in the ceremony for another 20 years.
It should be noted, however, that the Academy's press office has denied the ban. They said:
We don't ban presenters. There's no such thing as a ban.
While they did state that there's no 'such thing as a ban,' they did effectively and publicly ban Will Smith from attending for 10 years in 2022 after he slapped Chris Rock. In Richard Gere's case, they may not have officially banned the actor, but they certainly did not invite him back—a move that was certainly perceived a ban by the public, and even Richard Gere himself. His next invitation wouldn't be until ten years later, in 2003.
When his film Chicago was nominated 13 times that year, the Academy had no choice but to call the star back to attend. Gere was present when Chicago won six of the coveted trophies.
Rehabilitated and celebrated: Gere is part of the Oscars again
10 years after his appearance, Richard Gere's impromptu speech was entirely put in the shadows. He was invited to properly participate in the Academy Awards in 2013 as a presenter. Alongside his co-stars from Chicago, he presented the awards for Best Film Score, and Best Original Song of the year.
Shortly before the award ceremony, he joked about his Oscar ban to HuffPost saying:
Apparently, I've been rehabilitated. It seems if you stay around long enough, they forget they've banned you.
Richard Gere's story shows that even Hollywood legends are not immune to controversy—and that sometimes a courageous speech can lead to unexpected consequences.
This article has been translated from Ohmymag DE.
Read more:
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Sources used:
Gala.de: Richard Gere: Why the Hollywood star was banned from the Oscars for 20 years
Prosieben.de: Hollywood scandal: Oscar ban for Richard Gere: Why the "Pretty Woman" star was excluded
GQ: Richard Gere: The Lost Transcript
HuffPost: EXCLUSIVE: Richard Gere Set For Oscars Return, 20 Years After He Was Banned
