Oscars producer speaks out on what happened behind the scenes after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock

In an unique interview with ABC Information’ TJ Holmes, airing Friday on “Good Morning America,” Packer mentioned the Los Angeles Police Division was able to “arrest” Smith on the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday night time after he bought up from his seat, walked on stage and slapped Rock for telling a joke about his spouse, Jada Pinkett Smith.

“That’s an absolute reality,” Packer mentioned. “The LAPD made it clear: ‘We’ll do no matter you need us to do, and one of many choices is that we’ll go and arrest him proper now.’”

‘I believed it was a bit’

Packer, who led the primary all-Black manufacturing staff for the Oscars, mentioned he wasn’t frightened when Rock first took the stage to current the award for finest documentary characteristic.

“I mentioned: ‘Watch this, he is gonna kill.’ As a result of I knew he had a tremendous lineup of jokes that we had — we had him within the prompter,” Packer recalled. “He did not inform one of many deliberate jokes, however you possibly can’t make it up. He was simply instantly freestyling. However I inform you, if there’s anyone that you just don” fear about going out in entrance of a dwell viewers and riffing off the cuff, [it’s] Chris Rock. No person’s higher.”

Packer mentioned he had no issues as a result of he knew Rock would make the gang snicker. However when issues all of the sudden took a flip, Packer mentioned his “coronary heart dropped.”

“As soon as I noticed Will yelling on the stage, [it] was such vitriol,” he mentioned. “I bear in mind pondering: ‘Oh no, no no, not like this. Not like this.’ However I’ve bought folks, all people’s nonetheless in my ear, you understand, saying: ‘OK, what are we doing on digital camera two? Is he nonetheless up there? Are we doing the very best documentary class?’ And Chris was retaining his head when all people was shedding theirs.”

‘However my coronary heart at that time was simply in my abdomen, due to every little thing about it and what it represented and what it regarded like and who was concerned,” he added. “All of that was simply — I by no means felt so instantly devastated like I did in that second.”

WATCH: Will Smith’s stunning Oscars stage confrontation with Chris Rock

Initially, Packer mentioned he “thought it was a bit,” like many did within the viewers and at residence. However when Rock walked off stage, the producer was in a position to ask Rock straight about what had transpired.

“I mentioned: ‘Did he actually hit you?” Packer recalled asking Rock off-stage simply moments after the incident. “And he checked out me and he goes: ‘I simply took a punch from Muhammad Ali.’ It is precisely what he mentioned, as solely Chris can, you understand. He was instantly in joke mode, however you may inform that he was very a lot nonetheless in shock.”

Behind the scenes

Backstage, Packer mentioned cops have been instantly on scene and able to observe by means of with no matter Rock determined. Packer advised “GMA” that he would even have Rock’s again.

“I made that clear, like, ‘Rock, you inform me, no matter you need to do, brother,’” Packer mentioned. “The LAPD got here and wanted to speak to Chris. And they also got here into my workplace they usually have been laying out very clearly what Chris’ rights have been. They have been saying: ‘That is battery. We’ll go get him. We’ll go get him proper now, you possibly can press costs, we will arrest him.’”

Nonetheless, Packer mentioned Rock was “dismissive” of the choices police offered, insisting he was “effective.” Whereas Packer did not communicate to Smith, his co-producer, Shayla Cowan, knowledgeable him that the Academy of Movement Footage Arts and Sciences was about to take away Smith from the ceremony. The Academy mentioned in an announcement Wednesday that they’d requested Smith to depart, however he refused.

In 1st remarks since Oscars slap, Chris Rock says he is ‘nonetheless form of processing what occurred’

“It occurred proper earlier than the very best actor award,” Packer recalled, noting that he was not a part of the dialog with the Academy to take away Smith from the neighborhood. “I instantly went to the Academy management that was on web site and I mentioned: ‘Chris Rock doesn;t need that,’ I mentioned: ‘Rock has made it clear that he doesn’t need to make a nasty scenario.’”

As a result of Rock was not retaliatory, aggressive or indignant following the incident, Packer mentioned he was prepared to advocate for regardless of the comic wished in that second, which was to not kick out Smith.

Smith’s apology

Smith ended up profitable finest actor that night time for his efficiency as Richard Williams, the daddy of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, within the movie “King Richard.” It was his first-ever Academy Award. When giving his acceptance speech on stage, a tearful Smith seemingly referenced the confrontation with out mentioning or apologizing to Rock straight. As a substitute, he apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees.

The next day, Smith formally apologized to Rock and the Academy for his actions in an Instagram publish. Packer mentioned Smith additionally reached out to him that morning.

“He apologized and he mentioned: ‘You understand, this could have been a huge second for you,’” Packer recalled. “He expressed his embarrassment and that was the extent of it.”

Smith reportedly additionally apologized to the opposite Oscars producers in a six-minute Zoom name on Tuesday. However the Academy’s Board of Governors, who introduced Wednesday that they’re starting disciplinary procedures towards the actor, have been initially not within the know.

The Academy mentioned it’s holding its subsequent board assembly on April 18, throughout which members might determine to take disciplinary motion towards Smith, such suspension, expulsion or different sanctions.

Rock dealt with the second with ‘grace and aplomb’

Whereas Rock hasn’t mentioned a lot about what occurred between him and Smith, he did inform the viewers at his first comedy present for the reason that Oscars on Wednesday night time that he’s nonetheless “processing what occurred” and that he’ll discuss it in some unspecified time in the future.

However within the days for the reason that Oscars, many have weighed in and are nonetheless shaken by the incident, together with certainly one of this 12 months’s co-hosts, comic Wanda Sykes, who advised Ellen DeGeneres in an interview to air April 7 that she is “sickened” by what went down on stage.

“For them to let him [Smith] keep in that room and revel in the remainder of the present and settle for his award, I used to be like: ‘How gross is that this?’ Sykes mentioned. “That is simply the fallacious message. You assault someone, you get escorted out the constructing and that is it.”

In the meantime, Packer continues to be praising Rock for dealing with the second how he did, particularly because the vitality within the room died down.

“Chris dealt with the second with such grace and aplomb — it allowed the present to proceed,” Packer mentioned. “As a result of Chris continued the way in which that he did, he accomplished the class. He handed the trophy to Questlove, who I really feel like was actually robbed of their second. It gave us license in a option to proceed the present, which is what we have been making an attempt to do.”

“It was such an enormous second, and such a tragic and disappointing second that it wasn’t one thing that we have been going to come back again from inside that night time, inside this week,” he added. “I do not know after we’ll come again and other people will likely be speaking about the rest aside from the present.”