Richard Gere is one of the most famous Hollywood actors. Although he had leading roles that gained him international fame, such as his role as Edward Lewis – a businessman who falls in love with a prostitute (played by Julia Roberts) in Beautiful woman (1990), did not win any award OscarWhat’s more, even He was banned from the famous concert for two decades. However, very few had remembered it until the past few days, when he thought about it.
In the midst of promoting his new documentary project The wisdom of happiness, Focus on the life of the Dalai LamaThe 76-year-old translator spoke to the magazine diverse He talked about why members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were banned from this prestigious event for several years.
It all started in 1993, when… At the 65th edition, Gere took the stage to present the Best Art Direction category. Instead of reading the prepared text, improvise a message about Human rights violations in TibetHe sent a direct appeal to Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to withdraw his forces and allow the Chinese region to be free.
This gesture surprised organizers and the public alike. Concert producer Gil Cates described it as: “Outrageous, disgusting and dishonest” To exploit his moment for a personal political belief.
In this sense, after more than 30 years, the aforementioned method appeared He wanted to know if you had told him. The Dalai Lama about this situation. “I didn’t take it personally.”He commented and continued: “I didn’t think there were villains in the situation. I’m doing what I’m doing, and of course I don’t intend to hurt anyone. I intend to hurt anger. I intend to hurt the exclusion. I intend to harm human rights violations, but I try to remain as loyal as possible to the position of His Holiness: That all are saveable, and that in the end, all must be saved or none of us will be saved. So, in that sense, I don’t take it personal.”
In 2003, After ten years of controversy, the Academy made an exception. success chicago – the film in which a lawyer takes on the case of two femme fatales who once again seek public fame – brought him back to the red carpet.
The punishment ended in 2013, when Gere returned to the concert scene. as presenter of the Best Score and Best Original Song categories alongside Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah.
The American representative is A The famous activist. for him Commitment mainly focuses on Defending human rights in Tibet And unconditional support for The Dalai LamaBecause he is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.
In addition to Tibet, Gere expanded his social work to include other causes, including aid Homeless people (in collaboration with institutions such as Hogar Sí) and assisting with this Migrants and refugeesWhich prompted him to participate in rescue missions in the Mediterranean (such as the NGO Open Arms).
He emphasized on several occasions that his goal was not to harm anyone, but to harm people “Anger, exclusion and human rights violations.”