Los Angeles police were poised to arrest Will Smith on assault charges moments after he slapped Chris Rock at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, the awards show’s producer revealed in a new interview. .
Producer Will Packer shared the surprising behind-the-scenes details in an interview with ABC that will air in its entirety Friday on Good Morning America.
Packer said that Rock was in his office shortly after the assault when Los Angeles officers showed up and offered to take action against Smith.
“(The officers) said, ‘We’re going to go look for him, we’re ready to catch him right now,’” he recalled, referring to Smith. “’You can press charges and we can arrest you,’” the cops added.
But Packer said Rock disregarded the options and refused to press charges.
The revelation came after the Academy said it had asked Smith to leave the ceremony after his collapse, but the organization’s claim was called into question on Thursday.
“No one asked him to Chris if Will should go. They never consulted him. It was Oscars producer Will Packer who made the final decision to let Will stay,” a source said.
TMZ reported Thursday that Packer was the one who told Smith he could stay, despite the fact that producers and Academy officials had divided opinions on the matter.
“Packer was approached Will and said, ‘We don’t want you to go,'” the outlet reported.
That contradicts the Academy’s claim in a letter to members on Wednesday that the actor had gone “refused” to leave the ceremony and instead stayed at the Dolby Theater to collect his Best Actor award for “King Richard” to a standing ovation.
Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg , who is on the Academy’s board of directors, defended the decision to let Smith choose whether to stay or leave Hollywood’s biggest night.
This Wednesday Rock broke the silence for pr For the first time since the slap during his tour in Boston, saying that he was still “processing” the attack.
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