Police offered to arrest Will Smith, Oscars producer says

Oscars producer Will Packer mentioned Los Angeles police had been able to arrest Will Smith after Smith slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage.

“They had been saying, , that is battery, was a phrase they utilized in that second,” Packer mentioned in a clip launched by ABC Information Thursday evening of an interview he gave to “Good Morning America.” “They mentioned we are going to go get him. We’re ready. We’re ready to get him proper now. You possibly can press expenses, we will arrest him. They had been laying out the choices.”

However Packer mentioned Rock was “very dismissive” of the thought.

“He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m tremendous,” Packer mentioned. “And even to the purpose the place I mentioned, ‘Rock, allow them to end.’ The LAPD officers completed laying out what his choices had been and so they mentioned, ‘Would you want us to take any motion?’ And he mentioned no.”

The LAPD mentioned in a press release after Sunday evening’s ceremony that they had been conscious of the incident, and that Rock had declined to file a police report. The division declined remark Thursday on Packer’s interview, an extended model of which can air on Friday morning.

The Academy of Movement Photos Arts and Sciences met Wednesday to provoke disciplinary proceedings in opposition to Smith for violations in opposition to the group’s requirements of conduct. Smith may very well be suspended, expelled or in any other case sanctioned.

The academy mentioned in a press release that “Mr. Smith’s actions on the 94th Oscars had been a deeply stunning, traumatic occasion to witness in-person and on tv.”

With out giving specifics, the academy mentioned Smith was requested to depart the ceremony on the Dolby Theatre, however refused to take action.

Smith strode from his entrance row seat on to the stage and slapped Rock after a joke Rock made about Smith’s spouse, Jada Pinkett Smith, when he was on stage to current the Oscar for finest documentary.

On Monday, Smith issued an apology to Rock, the academy and to viewers, saying “I used to be out of line and I used to be improper.”

The academy mentioned Smith has the chance to defend himself in a written response earlier than the board meets once more on April 18.

Rock publicly addressed the incident for the primary time, however solely briefly, at the start of a standup present Wednesday evening in Boston, the place he was greeted by a thunderous standing ovation. He mentioned “I’m nonetheless form of processing what occurred.”