Will Smith Reportedly Apologized To Academy Members During ’30 Minute’ Meeting After Slap
01.04.2022 - 03:33
/ hollywoodlife.com
Will Smith has reportedly apologized to The Oscars for slapping Chris Rock. The apology happened during 30 minute Zoom call with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences earlier this week, CNN tweeted, adding that the Academy also “heard him out.” The organization responded by saying his “actions would have consequences.” HollywoodLife has reached out to The Academy for comment.
The producer of the Oscars, Will Packer, has also spoken out — saying that the Los Angeles Police Department was ready to arrest Smith after the unexpected incident. “[Police] said, ‘We will go get him, we are prepared. We can go get him right now…you can press charges, we can arrest him,’ — they were laying out the options,” Packer said in a preview clip in his Good Morning America interview, set to air on Friday, April 1.
“As they were talking, Chris was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, ‘I’m fine’, saying ‘no, no, no’…I said Rock, let them finish,” Packer explained. “They said, ‘would you like us to take any action?’ and [Rock] said ‘no.” Packer also said that he did not speak to Will directly during the Broadcast, as some reports previously indicated.
Whether or not Smith was asked to leave after the slap — which happened after Rock made an inappropriate joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith‘s bald head, which is as a result of alopecia — remains unclear. The Academy stated on March 30th that they did ask Smith to leave, with reports saying that the request came from Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. Conflicting reports emerged on March 31, however, that Will was not asked to leave directly — but rather, a heated conversation took place backstage with his representatives.
Related Gallery
Will