Key Takeaways:
- According to Oscars producer Will Packer, Will Smith was ready to be arrested after slapping Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage.
- According to the academy, Smith was asked to leave the Dolby Theatre ceremony but refused without going into detail.
- According to the academy, Smith will have the opportunity to defend himself in writing before the board meets on April 18.
According to Oscars producer Will Packer, Will Smith was ready to be arrested after slapping Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage.
“They were stating, you know, this is the battery,” Packer said in a clip from an interview he gave to “Good Morning America” released by ABC News Thursday night. “They said we’d go get him,” says the narrator. We have everything we need. We’re all set to capture him right now. You have the option of filing charges, and we have the option of arresting him. They were outlining the possibilities.”
On the other hand, Rock was “very dismissive” of the idea, according to Packer.
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Packer said, “He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine.'” “I even said, ‘Rock, let them finish,'” says the author. ‘Might you like us to take any action?’ the LAPD officers asked after laying out his options. And he declined.”
After the ceremony on Sunday night, the LAPD issued a statement confirming that they were known of the incident as well as that Rock had declined to file a police report. The department declined to comment on Packer’s interview on Thursday.
In a longer version of “Good Morning America,” Packer said that he initially thought the slap was staged. “I assumed it was part of something Chris and Will were working on independently. It was a tad, I thought. “I was unconcerned in the least.”
After the incident, Packer said he went up to Rock. “Did he hit you?” the producer inquired of Rock. “And also he looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, Muhammad Ali just punched me,’ as only Chris can. He was right away cracking jokes, but you could tell he was still reeling from the shock.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences convened on Wednesday to begin disciplinary hearings against Smith for violating the organization’s code of conduct. Smith could be suspended, expelled, or punished in some other way.
“Mr. Smith’s actions at the 94th Academy Awards were a deeply surprising, traumatic incident to witness in-person and on television,” the academy said.
The academy stated that Smith was asked to leave the Dolby Theatre ceremony but refused without going into detail.
After a joke Rock made regarding Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, once he was on stage to show the Oscar for best documentary, Smith strode from his front-row seat onto the stage as well as slapped Rock.
On Monday, Smith apologized to Rock, the Academy, and the public, saying, “I was out of line, and I was wrong.”
According to the academy, before the board meets on April 18, Smith has the opportunity to defend himself in writing.
Rock addressed the event publicly for the first time, albeit briefly, at the start of a standup show in Boston on Wednesday night, to thunderous applause. “I’m still processing what happened,” he said.
Source: Global News
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