According to Will Packer, a producer for the Academy Awards (Oscars), the Los Angeles police were around during the Oscars ceremony and ready to arrest actor Will Smith after he had slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
However, Chris Rock had declined to press charges against Will Smith and so the authorities didn’t take any action against Smith.
In an excerpt from an interview with Good Morning America, Packer said: “They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment. They said, we will go get him. We are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now.”
He added that the LA Police were discussing options with Chris Rock behind the scenes, but he was “very dismissing of those options” and that he was like “no, no, no, I’m fine.”
Will Smith then won an award later that night for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard, where he apologised to the Academy but stopped short of addressing Chris Rock.
However, the actor issued a public apology to Chris Rock on his Instagram a day later, and his wife Jada also posted on her Instagram saying “this is a season for healing and I’m here for it”.