Oscars 2022 executive producer Will Packer said he had not “been part of” any conversations asking Will Smith to leave the ceremony after he slapped Chris Rock.
After the incident, fellow producer Shayla Cowan approached him and said they were about to “physically remove Will Smith” but because he hadn’t been included in those discussions, he prevented it from happening.
“I immediately went to The Academy leadership that was on site and said, ‘Chris Rock doesn’t want that,'” Packer recalled on “Good Morning America” Friday.
“I said, ‘Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse. That was Chris’ image,’ so I was advocating what Rock wanted in that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time because as it has now been explained to me that was the only option at that point.”
Packer also said there was another conversation that he was “not part of” where people had asked Smith, 53, to “voluntarily leave” the ceremony.
Smith apologized to Packer the following morning for ruining the producer’s “gigantic moment” and expressed his “embarrassment,” which the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” alum also did in a public apology to Rock.
Packer said he was merely echoing Rock’s desires.Getty ImagesThe Academy claimed in a statement after the incident that it had asked the “King Richard” to star to leave the ceremony, but he allegedly “refused.” Sources later told TMZ that the organization had lied about what had unfolded with insiders who were reportedly at Sunday’s ceremony who “witnessed various conversations” told the outlet that some wanted Smith to leave, but others did not.
Packer, however, allegedly said Smith could stay, which echoes what he said in his “GMA” interview.
The executive producer also said police were “prepared” to arrest Smith if Rock decided to press charges, which he didn’t.
