UPDATE: Oscars producer says LAPD offered to arrest Will Smith on Sunday night, details aftermath of the slap
Chris Rock was reportedly "dismissive" of the police offer, per producer Will Packer
Aux News Will Smith
Update [4/1]: Oscars producer Will Packer’s Good Morning America interview aired on Friday morning, and he was able to detail his own account of the Will Smith and Chris Rock situation. Packer says he initially thought the altercation was “a bit,” and he confirms that Rock added the joke about Jada Pinkett Smith himself, instead of reading it off the teleprompter.
“I said, ‘Watch this, he’s going to kill,’ because I knew he had an amazing lineup of jokes that we had. We had him in the prompter and ultimately he did not get to one joke. He didn’t tell one of the planned jokes,” he says, per Variety.
Packer recalls that, after Chris Rock was slapped, he approached the comedian offstage and asked if Smith really hit him. “He looked at me and he goes, ‘Yeah, I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali.’” He adds, “[Rock] was immediately in joke mode, but you could tell that he was very much still in shock.”
“I knew it was clearly a confrontational moment because of what was happening from Will in the audience, but I still wasn’t sure that he actually struck him,” Packer says.
Packer says he did not directly speak to the Best Actor Oscar winner, but was told that the Academy was going to “physically remove” Smith—but Packer made a point to tell them that was not what Rock wanted.
“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’ energy,” says Packer. “His tone was not retaliatory, it was not angry, so I was advocating what Rock wanted in 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.”
The Oscars producer confirms that Smith directly reached out to him the morning after the ceremony to apologize.
During the interview, Packer also opens up about the standing ovation Smith received after his Best Actor acceptance speech. “It wasn’t like this was somebody they didn’t know,” he explains. “It doesn’t make anything that he did right, and doesn’t excuse that behavior at all, but I think that the people in that room who stood up stood up for somebody who they knew, who was a peer, who was a friend, who was a brother, who has a three decades-plus long career of being the opposite of what we saw in that moment. I think these people saw the person that they know and were hoping that somehow, some way this was an aberration…I don’t think that these were people that were applauding anything at all about that moment.”
However Packer also admits that he wishes Smith would have used his time on stage to apologize to Rock. “I think what many of us were hoping was that he would go on that stage and make it better,” Packer says. “It couldn’t be made right in that moment, because of what had happened, but I think we were hoping that he would make it better, that he would stand on that stage and say what just happened minutes ago was absolutely and completely wrong [and say], ‘Chris Rock, I’m so sorry, please forgive me.’ That’s what I was hoping for. I felt like he was going to win and I was hoping that if he stayed he said that.”
Our collective, objective sense of reality—hanging on by a thread of late, in any case—took another little nick today, as we now appear to have formally entered the “He Said, The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences Said” phase of the Will Smith/Chris Rock altercation at Sunday night’s Oscars. (An event, we feel quixotically moved to remind you, that was witnessed by a fairly hefty chunk of the planetary population, and yet is still somehow spiraling into obscurity.)
Yesterday, the Academy issued its first major statement about Smith’s slapping of Rock (after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith), in which the body a) stated that it was initiating disciplinary proceedings against Smith, and that b) he was asked to leave the ceremony on Sunday night, but refused, instead staying in his seat until it was time to accept his Best Actor win for King Richard.
Now, though, “unnamed witnesses”—quoted by Variety—are disputing that claim, stating that Oscars producer Will Packer approached Smith in the aftermath of the slap and that “Packer said that he and the production ‘officially’ wanted Smith to stay for the remainder of the show,” according to one of the witnesses. Okay! But then another source, “close to Packer,” said that that’s the exact opposite of what happened, and that the producer never asked him to remain. It’s an amazing, ambiguous back-and-forth to witness, considering this all happened in a venue that was more packed with cameras than just about any other place on Earth on Sunday night.
The subtext here, unsurprisingly, appears to be one of extended and elaborate blame-shifting. If—as many people do—you think it was wrong for Smith to slap Rock, and if—as many people do—you think it was wrong for the assembled body of Hollywood superstars to then give the man a standing ovation, an extended platform to speak, and a fairly hefty portion of the benefit of the doubt in the aftermath of the moment, then clearly Smith’s continued presence in the Dolby Theater that night has to be somebody’s fault. The Academy clearly thinks (or wants people to think) that it was Smith’s, not theirs, while his camp disagrees. And now here we are: Second-generation controversies, growing up peacefully in Daddy Controversy’s shadow.
Packer will apparently give his own version of events in an interview with Good Morning America tomorrow; a presumably sound clip-heavy excerpt from that interview is expected to hit daylight some time tonight.
Update [3/31]: An excerpt from Packer’s GMA interview has now been released, in which the producer describes the immediate aftermath of the slap—namely, the presence of LAPD officers in his office, offering Chris Rock the opportunity to press charges and have Smith arrested. In Packer’s words, Rock was “dismissive” of the police offer, to the point of not even waiting for the cops to finish.
Although they don’t play the quote in the available snippet, Packer also apparently stated that “he did not speak with Smith directly the night of the Oscars,” a statement that doesn’t exactly untangle this whole issue of who did or did not ask who to leave when.
65 Comments
C’mon, I don’t believe they asked him leave; they knew he was a lock to win.
My guess is there was some chaotic, ambiguous discussion about what everyone might want to do in the immediate aftermath and now each party is Rashomoning themselves into a version of events where they were totally blameless.
But an exchange like
‘Don’t you think you should leave?’
‘No.’
‘Okay, then please take your seat’
could support both narratives.
Holy shit I don’t care.
And yet, here you are, engaging with the article that you willingly clicked on.
Brilliant username/comment synergy. Real deep-thinkin’ stuff.
Cared enough to comment!
See you here again tomorrow!
The only thing “amazing” is the amount of energy being spent on this.
Daniel Radcliffe sums it up best for me “I saw it, I’m just so already dramatically bored of hearing people’s
opinions about it, that I just don’t want to be another opinion added to
it.”
Give that man all the awards.
He was so great in Lord of the Rings and Wilfred.
But the moment you give that man all the awards is the moment the devil will come for him!
I mean he can act like he’s above it, but the issue isn’t moot because people are sick of it. Somebody slapped somebody else in anger on TV and because that person is rich and famous they weren’t only NOT removed from the premises, he was still allowed up on stage, on live TV, to speak his mind afterwards. Sorry to Radcliffe but there is a conversation about privilege happening and it doesn’t deserve to be silenced because he’s bored of it.
Daniel was on Good Morning Britain, a fairly run of the mill breakfast tv show, to promote his new film.He wasn’t at the Oscars. He wasn’t directly affected by the incident and he didn’t think him giving what Susanna Reid wanted (more fuel on the fire) was worth it.Generally I quite like Susanna, but she’s been pushing the outrage button all week and it’s bit boring (IMO and possibly Daniel’s too).
We all saw it. It was definitely wrong, but really, a slap and that was it. No gut punch, no kick in the head, no blood or gore. Just a grown man slapping another grown man in the face. If it weren’t at the Oscars, we’d all be laughing at it.
At this point I’m preparing a citizen’s arrest warrant for the next AV Club blogger writes an article about it.
[SEAN O’NEAL TYPES FURIOUSLY]
We clicked to comment.
A-greed. I’ve overthrusted beyond the point of Zero Fuck’s Given and am continuing to accelerate.
Maybe all those hugs were just people whispering “please leave” into his ear?
Hopefully in the SNL version, lol.
Please no
I only got two words for you: THUNDER CHUNKY
Hardcore reference.
I mostly feel badly for Packer. He’s a hometown boy, and it was a big deal here that he was heading an all black production crew of the Oscars. I was supposed to go to a watch party our first Black mayor was hosting at the Black History Museum (wasn’t able to make it, now I wish I had because I can’t even imagine what happened in that room when ‘the slap’ landed). I just feel like this whole idiotic event overshadowed a real achievement. Crew rarely get their due, see removing several of the technical awards AGAIN and still having the show run over. I used to work AV crew for some major events and having shit like that go smoothly is the epitome of the dumb metaphor about ducks paddling under the water while effortlessly gliding along.
And don’t forget QuestLove and the “white guys” getting their win overshadowed by that mess.
Will was trainin’ 20 hours a day liftin’ big ‘ol cars ‘n big bales of hay, runnin’ 20 miles every morning thinkin’ ‘bout Oscar ‘n his moment of glory…and 4 million sit-ups…in a minute…he ain’t lyin’ he did it!
The general public thinks you’re a fool. You’re gettin’ dissed, hope you think it’s cool…
I can’t remember any more…
Yo Jada wait up, I think I can slap Chris Rock!
This budget improv Rashomon sucks.
That’s not how I remember it.
Given enough episodes, every TV series gets a Rashomon episode. This is how we know America has jumped the shark.
Are these witnesses choosing to remain anonymous because they’re afraid of being slapped?
…with a lawsuit…
Which black guy would the LAPD not offer to arrest?
Will Smith went full Wayne Brady. Never go full Brady, man.
What are you talking about, Will Smith never choked nobody, let alone any bitches.
Does Will Smith have to slap a bitch?
An event, we feel quixotically moved to remind you, that was witnessed by a fairly hefty chunk of the planetary population, and yet is still somehow spiraling into obscurity. The Slap will never fade into obscurity. Chris Rock and Will Smith will be long in their graves, having reconciled by co-starring in an off-Broadway production of The Odd Couple in 2043, the internet will exist as ether cables implanted in infant brains at birth, the entire human population of the planet will have relocated to Mars due to climate change, and the AV Club will still have multiple daily articles talking about what happened at the Oscars that one time.
While simultaneously complaining about how the internet keeps “making” them write articles about it or something.
I’m liking this “Odd Couple” idea of yours lol. Off Broadway? No way! This is a major motion picture!
Rock is handling this in the best possible way—going about his business and letting Smith deal with the aftermath of his bad behavior. These are two grown men in their fifties, and one of them acted like he was in junior high on live TV.Everyone saw what happened. There’s no need for him to say anything publicly about it. If he went out there and bitched about it he’d come off as weak and whiny. Let other people be outraged and fill the airwaves with their opinions.It’s far better that Rock is being the bigger man and just letting it go.
Even Chris Rock knows better than letting the LAPD take away a black man
The slap was an insane overreaction to a shitty but innocuous joke, but the LAPD as a whole needs to be told to go fuck itself. Daily.
I’ve got a feeling that a lot of the “Chris Rock should press charges” people are also “Why does everything have to be about race” people with a little anti-CRT moaning thrown in.I’ve also argued with “it was all staged” people by telling them that Smith and Rock are too smart* to set something like this up because they know how one Black man slapping another on a live broadcast would be perceived. I’m sorry, “Why does everything have to be about race” people, but there is a LOT that’s about race in America.*Smart people can make bad choices in the heat of the moment. Will Smith isn’t going to deliberately throw away decades of a carefully cultivated public persona for some Oscar ratings. What he did on Sunday was not thought through.
Exactly. I live in a college town that is very centered around their sports team and the white male fans start fights when their team loses (light couches on fire even!), harasses anyone that walks down frat row, etc. and they get the “boys will boys” treatment but Will Smith slaps a dude and the same people think he belongs in jail.
It’s funny how some people are claiming that it’s racist to make it about race, and some people are saying it’s racist to ignore any racial angles… Why can people not understand that it’s possible for something to not be primarily “about” race, but it can still intersect with various racial issues? Yes, it’s bad that Will Smith did something that reinforced negative stereotypes about Black me. No, the stereotypes are not his fault what he did wasn’t bad because it reinforces stereotypes, it’s bad because violence is bad. If we take that a bit further to some of these reactions, then yes it might be racist to say that Smith should have been arrested – if you wouldn’t take the same stance for a white man. Of course he did commit a crime so technically he could/should have been arrested. But look at it in perspective; the cops are very rarely going to arrest someone over a very brief physical altercation when there is no lingering threat of ongoing violence.
The “He could have killed him! Will Smith has lost his mind!” cries from Apatow and co. are basically “That black brute must be stopped!” Like, it’s cornball ass Will Smith, but the way they’re talking about it, you’d think he power bombed Chris Rock through the floor. And then the carefully crafted statements from the Academy keep repeating the line about how “traumatic” the slap was… it’s just funny how this one moment of absolute jackassery has caused so many people to skip right over “Wow, that’s a side of him I didn’t expect to see” to “This hypermasculine beast should be imprisoned before he strikes again!”And of course by “funny” I mean “incredibly predictable”.
Oh please. That black man was Will Smith. They’d let him drive a police cruiser home in full uniform and buy him In N’ Out on the way.
There were probably 50 LAPD cars racing there as soon as they heard. “Surely we can arrest at least ONE of the black guys!” (I’m paraphrasing, obviously)
Why Irving?’–What’s wrong with the Police taking away a Black man’, in cuffs?’–They can b just as BAD as any 1.’, or is it wrong now 2 take away, Black criminals in cuffs!??”–
Will Packer sounds like an estate lawyer who’s really good at fucking
or eating (out) people
This might be the single dumbest joke I have ever read on this site. Just amazingly dumb.
He introduces himself by saying “Will Packer… … and then some!”
I can’t imagine Uncle Phil would be too happy with Will right now.
I can’t wait for this joke at next year’s awards show.
They should have got him to throw Will out of the venue Jazzy Jeff style.
Depends on whether Will suggested Uncle Phil buy he and Carlton jet skis.
People in the comments complaining about the biggest story in Hollywood in a blog devoted to Hollywood stories 🤔. Next they’ll run to MacRumors and tell the writers how ridiculous it is that they keep running stories about iPhones.
Good lord, he looks so fucking terrible in that picture. I wonder what the exact drug cocktail mix was.
I think a suitable punishment for Smith will be to bar him from next year’s Oscars. Deprive him of the honor of participating in the tradition of the previous year’s Best Acting recipients presenting to the next year’s.
‘Kicking his abusive ass the fuck out of SAG’ is more what I had in mind. The dude attacked somebody on live television in front of tens of millions of people and an entire auditorium full of his professional peers, kept running his mouth off about it, mad dogged the guy he just attacked from his seat, made some bullshit speech about being a ‘vessel of love’ after he won an Oscar 40 minutes later, and THEN invoked the name of the guy he played in that movie, who (along with his whole family) later condemned the slap.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/richard-williams-weighs-will-smiths-slap-chris-rock-oscars-rcna21896You know what might hurt worse than a slap, Will? Getting kicked the fuck out of Hollywood. That’s what.
lol holy shit go outside, man
I go outside plenty, usually to the street corner where your mother works. But that has nothing to do with the fact that Will Smith is a fucking prick who hits people.
Won’t someone please think of David Spade?
Somewhat OT:
LOL, plutotv started streaming Just Shoot Me last month.I haven’t watched it in years, but I think that might be the greatest role of his career.Dennis Q Finch is legendary.
As far as shit NBC sitcoms go?
Underrated.