13 Prestigious Awards and Honors That Had to Be Yoinked Back

If we’ve learned anything from this venture down this path of yoinked awards, it’s that you can basically do any number of violent or sexually deviant things before, during, and after your Oscar win, and the Academy will never yoink that little gold statue back. Woody Allen won an Oscar after his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow first accused him of sexual abuse in 1992. Roman Polanski won his Oscar 26 years after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old. But, show your film a couple months early, and that thing is getting ripped out of your grubby little cheating mitts!

And sure, Will Smith is banned from attending the ceremony for 10 years, but they gave him that bad boy after the slap, and he’ll have it for life. There are plenty of other prestigious awards that can get snatched back right quick, so unless you’re specifically on the hunt for an Oscar, you better tread lightly. Emmys, Pulitzers, and Honorary Doctorates aren’t safe, and if you’ve been up to no good, don’t get too comfy in your precious Halls of Fames. For any number of scandalous reasons, these 13 prestigious awards and honors got yoinked right back!