Oscars 2022 producer Will Packer is sharing details on what happened behind the scenes in the moments after Will Smith hit Chris Rock across the face at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday night. The slap heard around the world was in responce Rock's comments about Smith's wife.
Speaking with ABC News' TJ Holmes for "Good Morning America," Packer explained that he initially thought "it was a bit" when Smith got up from his seat, stormed onto the stage and attacked Rock after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's balding head. Smith then returned to his seat and shouted at Rock to leave his wife out of it. It was only after Rock walked off stage that the producer could ask exactly what had happened.
"I said, 'Did he really hit you?'" Packer recalled asking Rock off-stage just moments after the incident. "And he looked at me and he goes, 'I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali.' It's exactly what he said, as only Chris can, you know. He was immediately in joke mode, but you could tell that he was very much still in shock."
Backstage, Packer said the Los Angeles Police Department was ready to arrest Smith and the producer was standing by Rock whatever decision he made.
"I made that clear, like, 'Rock, you tell me, whatever you want to do, brother,'" Packer said. "The LAPD came and needed to talk to Chris. And so they came into my office and they were laying out very clearly what Chris' rights were. They were saying: 'This is battery. We will go get him. We will go get him right now; you can press charges, we can arrest him.'"
However, Rock was "dismissive," insisting he was fine. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was preparing to remove Smith from the ceremony but because Rock was not retaliatory or aggressive about the incident. Packer was willing to advocate for what the comedian wanted, which was not to have Smith kicked out.
"I immediately went to the Academy leadership that was on site and I said: 'Chris Rock doesn't want that.' I said, 'Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse,'" Packer said.
On Wednesday the academy released a statement saying that Smith refused to leave the event.
"Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated," the Academy said in a statement on Wednesday. "While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently."
The following day, Smith formally apologized to Rock in an Instagram post. Packer said Smith also reached out to him that morning.
"He apologized, and I said: 'You know, this should have been a gigantic moment for you,'" Packer recalled. "He expressed his embarrassment and that was the extent of it."