The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Producer says Rock did not want Smith removed
Atlanta’s Will Packer, on moment: ‘I’ve never felt so immediately devastated.’
‘I was advocating what Rock wanted in that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time.’
Will Packer Lead producer of the Oscars telecast
Will Packer, the lead producer of the Oscars telecast thrown into upheaval after actor Will Smith went onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock, said that after Smith had been asked to leave the ceremony he urged the leadership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences not to “physically remove” him from the theater in the middle of the live telecast.
In an interview that aired Friday, Packer said he had learned from his co-producer, Shayla Cowan, there were discussions of plans to “physically remove” Smith from the venue. So he said he immediately approached academy officials and told them he believed Rock did not want to “make a bad situation worse.”
“I was advocating what Rock wanted in that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time,” Packer said. “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.”
Packer, who is based in Atlanta, gave his first interview since last Sunday’s broadcast to “Good Morning America” on ABC, the network that also broadcasts the Oscars. In the interview, Packer said Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair was unscripted “free-styling.”
“He didn’t tell one of the planned jokes,” he said of Rock.
Someone close to Rock — who asked to speak anonymously because the academy’s inquiry into the incident is ongoing — said Rock was never asked directly whether he wanted Smith removed. Had he been asked, it was not clear how Rock would have responded, the person said. Rock was only asked whether he wanted to press charges, and he said he did not, the person said.
Packer said Smith reached out and apologized to him the morning after the Oscars. And he praised Rock for having kept his cool.
“Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs,” he said.
“I’ve never felt so immediately devastated,” Packer said of the incident.
Asked whether, after hearing Smith’s acceptance speech, he wished the actor had left the ceremony, Packer said he did, noting that Smith had not used his remarks to express real contrition and apologize to Rock.
“If he wasn’t going to give that speech which made it truly better, then yes, yes,” Packer said when asked whether he wished Smith had left the ceremony. “Because now you don’t have the optics of somebody who committed this act, didn’t nail it in terms of a conciliatory acceptance speech in that moment, who then continued to be in the room.”
Smith did not apologize to Rock until Monday evening, after the academy, which administers the awards, had condemned his actions and opened an inquiry into the incident.
Packer’s comments came after days of questions about why Smith had seemed to face no repercussions for striking a presenter on live television.
The academy said in a statement last week that Smith had been asked to leave the awards ceremony following the slap but had remained. Then several publications questioned that account, citing anonymous sources, and reported that Packer had suggested he stay.
Shortly after the ceremony ended, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying the person who had been slapped had “declined to file a police report.”
In the interview, Packer described his recollection of law enforcement’s involvement.
“They were saying, ‘This is battery, we will go get him,’” Packer said. “‘We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges. We can arrest him.’”
“Chris was being very dismissive of those options,” Packer said. “He was like, ‘No, I’m fine.’ He was like, ‘No, no, no.’”
Both on that Sunday night and in subsequent interviews, Los Angeles police have maintained that Smith’s slap qualified as misdemeanor battery under California law, and that as a misdemeanor, officers cannot take action unless the victim in the case files charges, which Rock did not do.
Rock made his first public comments about the incident Wednesday at a comedy show in Boston.
“I’m still kind of processing what happened,” Rock said, while promising to discuss the episode in greater depth later. “It’ll be serious, it’ll be funny, but I’d love to — I’m going to tell some jokes.”
The academy said Wednesday that it had initiated disciplinary proceedings against Smith — who on Friday resigned his membership from the academy — “for violations of the academy’s standards of conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the academy.” It said Smith would be given a chance to respond, while it “may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion or other sanctions” at its next board meeting, on April 18.