Oscars producer Will Packer said that comedian Chris Rock’s display of professionalism after being slapped across the face by actor Will Smith, helped the show go on after the debacle.
Rock continued presenting the award after being assaulted by Smith, with Packer describing Rock as handling the situation with grace and aplomb.
Packer spoke to ABC television, saying “Because Chris continued the way that he did, he completed the category. He handed the trophy to Questlove… it gave us licence in a way to continue the show, which is what we were trying to do.”
The producer said that he spoke to Rock after he walked off stage and asked him if Will Smith really hit him, to which Rock said “yes. I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali.” (Will Smith had previously portrayed the role of Muhammad Ali in 2001).
Packer then added that he went to the Academy leadership and said that Chris Rock didn’t want Will Smith to be ejected from the premises, and that he made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse.
On the standing ovation that Will Smith received for winning the Best Actor award after the assault, Packer said that the applause was for the actor’s work and not the slap.
He said “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 don’t think that these were people that were applauding anything at all about that moment, and all these people saw their friend at his absolute worst moment and were hoping that they could encourage him and lift him up and that he would somehow try to make it better.”
