Oscars Producer Says Police Were ‘Prepared’ To Arrest Will Smith After Chris Rock Slap

The producer in charge of the 94th Academy Awards broadcast, Will Packer, is opening up about Will Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock.

In the clip shared widely before the interview’s premiere, Packer said he was quickly put in contact with the LAPD after the slap, who allegedly told him, “We will do whatever you want us to do, and one of the options is that we will go and arrest [Smith] right now.” Packer claimed that Smith wasn’t arrested because Rock was “dismissive” of taking that action, he told Good Morning America on Friday.

The producer then spoke about the lead-up to the slap when Rock took the stage. He was looking forward to Rock presenting because “I knew he had an amazing lineup of jokes we had, we had them in the prompter, and ultimately he did not get to one joke… he was just freestyling.” Even when Smith began approaching Rock on the stage after his “G.I. Jane 2,” joke, Packer said he wasn’t alarmed and figured “this was part of something Chris and Will were doing on their own. I thought it was a bit!”

When the strike and ensuing shouting match occurred, with Smith shouting “Get my wife’s name out your f––king mouth,” Packer described his feeling as, “my heart at that point was just in my stomach. Because of everything about it, and what it represented, and what it looked like… I’ve never felt so immediately devastated.”

Packer made a beeline for Rock after the comedian finished presenting Summer of Soul director Questlove with his award for Best Documentary Feature. Packer said Rock confirmed Smith really hit him and while he was still “in shock” the comedian still got the joke in, “I just got punched by Muhammed Ali!”

The producer then said that he convened with Rock and some officers from the LAPD in his office to discuss possible responses. “They were saying ‘This is battery, we will go get him, we are prepared…’ As they were talking, Chris was being very dismissive of those options.” Packer claimed Rock declined to let the police take any action, and also said, “I never had any conversation with Will.”

Packer also advocated on behalf of Chris’ position when other leaders of the Academy reportedly wanted Smith thrown out of the ceremony. “I immediately went to the Academy leadership that was on site, and I said, ‘Chris Rock doesn’t want that… Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse.'”

The Best Actor winner Smith also apologized to Packer the day after the ceremony, and spoke to Academy members on a zoom call this week and apologized to them as well. The Academy will be releasing a disciplinary ruling for the actor within the next few weeks.