Oscars Producer Talks Will Smith’s Chris Rock Slap: “I Thought It Was A Bit, Like Everybody Else”
deadline.comOscars producer Will Packer said he didn’t realize presenter Chris Rock had been physically struck by Will Smith until he heard it straight from the comedian’s mouth.“I thought it was a bit, like everybody else,” Packer told Good Morning America in his first public comments since Sunday night’s shocker.
Smith, shortly before winning the Oscar for Best Actor, slapped Rock over a joke he made about the shaved head of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
She has publicly talked of her struggle with alopecia, a condition which causes hair loss.Packer told correspondent T.J. Smith that he was watching from just offstage as Rock launched into his mini-set before handing out the Best Documentary prize. “He didn’t tell one planned joke,” Packer said. “I thought this was something that Chris and Will were doing on their own.
I thought it was a bit. … We hadn’t practiced it.”Once it started to become clear what was unfolding, Packer said, “My heart dropped.
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