Oscars Producer Will Packer Recalls Chris Rock's Off-Stage Reaction to Will Smith Slapping Him
etonline.comis speaking out nearly a week after Will Smith shocked audiences by storming the stage and slapping Chris Rock across the face after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.In an interview with 's T.J.
Holmes, which aired in full on Friday, Packer said he spoke to Rock just after the incident and asked, «Did he really hit you?
And he looks at me and goes, ‘Yeah. I just got took a punch from Muhammad Ali. He was right away in joke mode, but you could tell that he was in complete shock.»Packer, who led the first all-Black production team, told that he did not speak directly to Smith, and he initially thought the slap was staged like many viewers and audience members. «I thought it was a bit, like everybody else,» he said.
Packer recalled being just off-stage when Rock started telling jokes, and revealed that the comedian «didn’t tell one planned joke.»«I thought this was something that Chris and Will were doing on their own,» he shared. «I thought it was a bit. … We hadn’t practiced it.»Once it became clear that this was not a bit, Packer said «my heart dropped.»«I remember thinking, ‘Oh no.
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