New Oscar winner Will Smith is right about one thing.

The slap he surprised Chris Rock, the Dolby Theater audience and on-screen viewers with during the Academy Awards was "unacceptable and unforgivable."

"Violence in any form is toxic and destructive," the actor said on Instagram on Monday, followed by a request for an apology.

"Chris, I want to publicly apologize to you.

I went too far and I was wrong.”

After Rock's joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, which he compared to Demi Moore's shaved skull in the soldier film "GI Jane", the fifty-three-year-old stormed onto the stage at the Oscars on Monday night to slap Rock .

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS), as the organizer of the annual award ceremony, had limited itself to hiding Smith's insults against Rock for the next few minutes.

About 20 minutes after the scandal, she honored him with an Oscar as the leading actor in the biopic "King Richard".

Smith then apologized to AMPAS and the audience in his acceptance speech, but declined to apologize to Rock.

As the Los Angeles Police Department announced, the 57-year-old comedian still refrained from filing a criminal complaint.

Smith, who needed reassurance after being slapped by Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry, later danced merrily at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills.

Smith seems to have lost his party mood by now.

The Academy said it "condemns" the actor and rapper's behavior during the awards ceremony, following allegations that the violence erupted.

After an initial crisis discussion via video conference, the Film Academy also scheduled a meeting of its board of directors for Wednesday.

"We have launched a formal investigation into the incident and are evaluating potential consequences under our regulations, our code of conduct and California law," the Academy said.

It seems impossible that Smith will be deprived of the Oscar, a temporary suspension of his membership in AMPAS is possible.

"We're not going to take the Oscar from him, but there will be consequences," announced filmmaker and actress Whoopi Goldberg, AMPAS Board Member, Academy Award winner and former awards presenter.

In the past, the Academy had refrained from returning the Oscar to former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted of rape and sexual abuse.

French-Polish director Roman Polanski, who pleaded guilty to "unlawful sexual intercourse" with a 13-year-old girl in the summer of 1977, was also allowed to keep his trophy.

In Hollywood, meanwhile, Smith's "slap" sparked a debate about violence and proportionality.

Director Rob Reiner ("When Harry Met Sally...") called the new Oscar winner's behavior inexcusable.

"He's lucky that Chris isn't reporting him for assault.

Will Smith's excuses were nonsense," the filmmaker tweeted after Smith tearfully claimed in his acceptance speech that he acted out of love.

Presenter Maria Shriver, formerly married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, also warned against downplaying the attack on Rock.

"We should steer clear of any place where we witness a movie star punch someone on a global television broadcast, only to be greeted with a standing ovation minutes later as they discuss love," Shriver said.

Comedienne Tiffani Haddish, who was sitting at the Dolby Theater during Smith's attack, defended him.

"It meant a lot to me to see a black man defend his wife," she told People.

Richard Williams, father of tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, who Smith played in the biopic King Richard, has distanced himself from the actor.

"We don't know exactly what happened before,"

the eighty-year-old told NBC.

“But we cannot condone violence against anyone.

That can only happen if you have to defend yourself.”