Richard Gere is breaking his silence on the Oscars ban that kept him off the Academy Awards stage for two decades — and his response is far calmer than Hollywood ever expected.
In a new interview with Variety published Dec. 3, the 76-year-old Pretty Woman star reflected on being barred from the Oscars for 20 years after calling out China’s human rights abuses during the 1993 ceremony.
And, surprisingly, he says he never saw it as personal.
“I didn’t take it particularly personally,” Gere said. “I didn’t think there were any bad guys in the situation. I do what I do and I certainly don’t mean anyone any harm. I mean to harm anger. I mean to harm exclusion. I mean to harm human rights abuses.”
Gere — a close friend of the Dalai Lama for 45 years — added that he tries to approach conflict with the Buddhist leader’s perspective:
“Everyone is redeemable, and in the end, everyone has to be redeemed or none of us are. So in that sense, I don’t take it personally.”
How the ban began
Gere’s long exile started in 1993 when he went off script while presenting the Oscar for Best Art Direction. Instead of simply reading the nominees, he used his time on stage to condemn China’s “horrendous, horrendous human rights issue” in Tibet.
In a now-famous moment, he asked the audience to “send love and truth and a kind of sanity to Deng Xiaoping,” urging China to pull its troops out of Tibet.
Hollywood — and China — reacted swiftly. Gere wasn’t invited back to present again until 2013, 20 years later.
A lifelong advocate
Gere’s activism never slowed. He’s long been banned from China and has repeatedly spoken out for Tibetan freedom, even calling for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also executive produced the upcoming 2025 Dalai Lama documentary Wisdom of Happiness.
Despite their close bond, Gere says he’s never actually discussed the Oscars controversy with the Dalai Lama.
“It never came up,” he said. “Sometimes they tell him if I get an award and he sends a note congratulating me… but that’s as close as it gets to talking about movies.”
