If Chris Rock didn’t keep his cool on stage at the Oscars, things could have gone very differently for the Academy.
Academy Awards producer Will Packer told “Good Morning America” said that Rock handled the incident afterwards with humour and grace out of respect for the Academy and which was also the reason why Academy let Smith stay for the remainder of the ceremony.
Packer said he initially thought the altercation was something Rock and Smith had planned, “I thought it was a bit,” he told “GMA.” “I wasn’t concerned at all.” He then noted that Rock’s joke wasn’t part of his scripted set.
As Rock left the stage, Packer approached him and asked “Did he really hit you? … and he looks at me and goes, ‘Yeah I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali,’ as only Chris can. He was immediately in joke mode, but you could tell he was still very much in shock.”
The LAPD came to Packer’s office and said, “This is battery. We will go get him. We’re prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges. We’ll arrest him.”
“[Chris] Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse,”
Earlier this week, the Academy released a statement saying that Smith was asked to leave but refused. The statement didn’t provide many details but acknowledged that the Academy “could have handled the situation differently.”
During a follow-up meeting, it was unclear who asked Will Smith to leave or what happened in that situation. Board members are still waiting for more clarity.
Packer said he was not part of that conversation on Sunday night.
“I immediately went to the Academy leadership that was on site and I said, ‘Chris Rock doesn’t want that.’ I said, ‘Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse.’ That was Chris’ image. His tone was not retaliatory, his tone was not aggressive and angry. And so I was advocating for what Rock wanted at that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time. Because, as it has now been explained to me, that was the only option at that point. It has been explained to me that there was a conversation that I was not a part of to ask him to voluntarily leave.”
EXCLUSIVE: #Oscars producer Will Packer tells Good Morning America about the frenetic aftermath of actor Will Smith slapping host Chris Rock live on stage on Hollywood’s biggest night. https://t.co/AeoYcGkM32 pic.twitter.com/8z35t8TPFw
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 1, 2022
