According to Oscars producer Will Packer, the Los Angeles Police Department wanted to arrest actor Will Smith for battery after he struck comedian Chris Rock during the Sunday night awards show.
Packer told ABC’s T.J. Holmes in an interview scheduled to air on Friday’s broadcast of “Good Morning America” that police were on the scene and prepared to arrest Smith, but Rock made it clear that he was not interested in taking any legal action.
Los Angeles police were ready to arrest Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards, Oscars producer Will Packer said. In an interview with “Good Morning America,” Packer says police called it a battery and laid out the options for Rock.https://t.co/KJbB0RleSZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 1, 2022
A short clip of the upcoming interview aired on Thursday evening’s broadcast of “World News Tonight.”
“[Police] were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment. They said, ‘We will go get [Smith], we are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges, we can arrest him,’” Packer described the scene that unfolded after the incident.
Packer went on to say that the police officers laid out several options for Rock, making it clear that they saw him as the victim.
“Chris was — he was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, ‘I’m fine. No, no, no. I’m fine,’” Packer continued. “And even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’”
The police finally asked Rock directly whether or not he wanted them to take any action against Smith, and Rock said, “No.”
Smith struck Rock in the face after the comedian made a crack about his wife’s hair loss, referencing the Demi Moore film “G.I. Jane” — and Smith later explained that he had reacted emotionally because of Jada Pinkett-Smith’s ongoing battle with alopecia.
The actor was allowed to remain for the rest of the evening — although conflicting reports have surfaced regarding whether or not he was asked to leave after he slapped Rock — and later received a standing ovation when he was announced as best actor for his turn in “King Richard.”
Rock responded to the incident briefly during a Wednesday evening stand-up performance in Boston, as The Daily Wire reported:
Comedian Chris Rock brought the house down at his first comedy show since getting slapped by actor Will Smith during Sunday evening’s Academy Awards.
After opening with a loaded question — “How was your weekend?” — Rock told the crowd at his sold out show in Boston that he was “still processing” what had happened.
[…]
“How was your weekend?” Rock tried again, promptings laughs and more applause from the crowd. “I don’t have a bunch of s*** about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that s***. And it will be serious and funny.”