Oscars producer Will Packer talks “Good Morning America” to detail for the first time Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Even though Packer was the producer of the ceremony, when it happened, his first reaction was like everyone else, thinking it was a hilarious performance.
Until Rock went backstage and confirmed with the producers: he was really beaten by Smith.
Packer confirmed that Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s “G.I. Jane”” was improvised by Rock himself, not in the script: “He didn’t say a single written joke, he started freestyle right away.”
But even if the performance didn’t worry Packer, his first reaction didn’t seem serious until Smith stepped onto the stage.
But when Smith got off the stage and started yelling at the stage, Packer realized something was wrong, his heart sank, and he thought, “No, don’t let this happen.”
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He said that only Rock remained calm at the time, and no one else could calm down, and his heart was in his throat, “Because I thought about what this thing meant, what it represented, what it looked like, participating in Who are the people.”
Rock returned backstage after awarding the award. Still in shock, he confirmed to the staff that he was beaten by Smith, “I just punched Ali,” and he also insisted that he was fine.
Packer revealed: The Los Angeles police then went to Packer’s office, detailed his rights to Rock, and said to him, “This is assault, we’re going to get him (Smith), we’re ready, we’re ready. If you arrest him now, you can file a complaint and we will arrest him.”
But Rock insisted he was fine and didn’t take the options offered by the police seriously. The police asked Rock if they wanted them to take action, and Rock refused to say “no.”
Earlier, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organizer of the Oscars, issued a statement on the matter, saying that he had asked Smith to leave the ceremony after the incident, but he refused.
Since then, multiple media outlets have questioned the academy’s claims, saying Packer asked Smith to stay at the awards ceremony.
Packer’s own account of this: At the time, Shayla Cowan, another ceremony producer, told Packer that “they” were going to let Smith leave the ceremony.
Packer said he was not involved in “their” discussions, so he went to the leadership of the college who was there at the time, saying: “Chris Rock doesn’t want this. Rock made it very clear: he didn’t want to make things worse. That’s what Chris thought, and his attitude wasn’t revengeful, or angry, aggressive. I was supporting Rock’s idea that he didn’t want Will Smith in.”
Packer also said that someone explained to him afterwards that there was a discussion (which he was not involved in) to get Smith to leave the game voluntarily.
Before Smith publicly apologised for the incident, he contacted Packer privately the morning of the awards ceremony to apologize, expressing his guilt that he knew it was important to Packer as well.
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