Why Richard Gere Was Banned From The Oscars For 20 Whole Years

In what may come as a surprise to many movie fans, Richard Gere was once banned from the Oscars. Gere is an award-winning actor whose credits include some of the greatest romantic comedies and successful romantic dramas of all time, with Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman, and Runaway Bride. With four Golden Globe nominations and one win for Best Actor in Chicago, and two SAG nominations with one win, again for Chicago, it’s a wonder Gere has never been nominated for an Oscar.

There are plenty of talented actors who have never had the honor of being nominated. In Richard Gere’s case, however, part of his misfortune stems from the fact that he was banned from the ceremony for 20 years. There have been plenty of strange and dark moments at the Oscars over the years. Some of these have led to actors being banned from the event. People like Carmine Caridi, Will Smith, Roman Polanski, and Harvey Weinstein have all been banned for progressively more concerning reasons, but Gere’s ban was under unique circumstances.

At the 1993 Oscars, the 65th Academy Awards, and just a few years after Pretty Woman, Richard Gere was asked to present the award for Best Art Direction, which ended up going to Luciana Arrighi and Ian Whittaker for Howards End. During his speech, Gere went off-script and began berating the Chinese government for its treatment of the Tibetans and the Chinese people (via Hello! Magazine).

A long-time and vocal adherent to Tibetan Buddhism, Gere was and has since been outspoken against China. After noting in his presentation that over one billion people were watching the 1993 Oscars ceremony, Gere made comments about the “horrendous human rights situation there is in China.”

The actor elaborated that he wanted this moment to send “love and truth and a kind of sanity to Deng Xiaoping,” who was the leader of the People’s Republic of China until his death in 1997, while imploring him to remove troops from Tibet and allow them to live independently again. ​​​​​​​This portion of Gere’s speech only lasted about one minute, but was enough for the Oscars to ban him from the ceremony until long after the turn of the 21st century.

How Long Did Richard Gere’s Oscars Ban Last?

Richard Gere Had A Lengthy Ban From The Ceremony

This speech ended up getting Gere banned from the Oscar ceremony for 20 years and also earned him a lifetime ban from China. However, he was permitted to attend the 2003 ceremony when Chicago, in which Gere played silver-tongued lawyer Billy Flynn, was nominated for and won Best Picture. He also returned to the Academy Awards in 2013, the 85th Oscars, to introduce the performance of Best Song nominee “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” and present Best Original Score and Best Original Song alongside his Chicago castmates Queen Latifah, Renée Zellweger, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Gere winkingly told Huffington Post,

“Apparently, I’ve been rehabilitated. It seems if you stay around long enough, they forget they’ve banned you.”

Richard Gere’s Oscars ban was technically lifted in 2013, but the actor hasn’t made any appearances at the ceremony in the years since. However, this isn’t too surprising considering Gere hasn’t been in too many movies since then. With the Academy Awards’ trend of reuniting actors from classic movies for presentations, such as Beetlejuice‘s Michael Keaton and Catherine O’Hara or Twins‘ Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito at the 2024 Oscars, it’s still possible that a future Oscar ceremony could see Gere return alongside one of his former co-stars like Julia Roberts to present an award.

What Other Actors Have Been Banned From The Oscars?

Richard Gere Is Among Only A Few People Who Have Been Banned For Various Reasons

Getting banned from the Oscars is rare, and has only happened on a few occasions since Richard Gere’s banning in 1993. In addition to Richard Gere, the other actors who have been banned from the Oscars include The Godfather Part II‘s Carmine Caridi, The Cosby Show‘s Bill Cosby, and King Richard‘s Will Smith. Actors aren’t the only Hollywood figures who have been banned from the ceremony, however, as producer Harvey Weinstein, director Roman Polanski, and cinematographer Adam Kimmel have also been prohibited from attending the Oscars in recent years.

The length of the ban and the reasons for being barred from the Oscars vary by person and reason. Gere’s ban lasted 20 years for his off-script speech, whereas Carmine Caridi was permanently banned after illegally distributing VHS “screeners” of movies to his friend.

Furthermore, the Academy gave lifetime bans to Harvey Weinstein in 2017, Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski in 2018, and Adam Kimmel in 2021 after each received sexual assault or misconduct charges, convictions, or allegations. The latest person to be banned from the Oscars is Will Smith, who received a 10-year ban after slapping presenter Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Gere Stepped Out Of The Spotlight, But He’s Returning To Hollywood

Richard Gere Appeared In A 2023 Film And Has Three More On The Way

Richard Gere had difficulty finding work in major Hollywood productions after 1993, a fact he claimed was because of Hollywood’s financial relationship with China, but he still acted in smaller independent films. However, in 2017, after starring in The Dinner and Three Christs, Gere stayed out of the spotlight for six years. It wasn’t until 2023 that he finally appeared in a movie again, playing Howard in Maybe I Do, a romantic comedy where he costars in an ensemble alongside Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, and William H. Macy.

Despite the stellar cast, the film was a flop, earning a paltry 32% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was a sign that Gere was back. 2024 has the actor star in two movies: Longing, a drama also starring Diane Kruger, and Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, a drama that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in which Gere plays the older version of Jacob Elordi’s character, Leonard Fife. Jacob Elordi is a major star at the moment and with Gere attached to a film with him, there’s a hope that the veteran’s star may rise once more.

Gere also has two upcoming projects listed on his IMDb page, and these also see the Chicago star working alongside buzzy talent. He’s currently filming The Agency, a Paramount+ espionage thriller costarring Michael Fassbender and Jeffrey Wright, and The Making Of, a movie in pre-production also set to star Blake Lively, Diane Keaton, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

How Fans Feel About Oscar Bans

Fans Were Split On WIll Smith But Support Bans To Others

When it comes to Oscar bans, many fans either have no idea they happened or they are often not overly concerned about them. The most recent example was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. While the discourse online was split, with some saying he should have been banned and other fans defending him for standing up for his wife, most people felt the ban was fair. In a Reddit poll, 389 people voted, and 219 felt the 10-year ban was fair and only 65 felt it was too harsh. 105 people felt it should have been longer:

“Fair. The slap didn’t just hurt Chris Rock, it hurt the filmmakers that Rock was presenting the award for, and their speech, which should have been their glory moment, was awkward because of Smith’s action.” – Berutheil999

When it comes to the bans for actions outside the Oscars, most fans seem to be in favor. If Roman Polanski reenters the United States, he will be arrested. Redditor mstrss9 pointed out how long it took to finally ban Roman Polanski after his arrest, saying: “Roman Polanski is a convicted child rapist because he is an “artist” If I am remembering correctly, it wasn’t until they were ready to ban Bill Cosby that they finally decided to say something about Polanski.“