Packer was stunned to learn that this was not the case as the moment intensified during the live broadcast.

“If there’s anybody that you don’t worry about going out in front of a live audience and riffing off the cuff, Chris Rock. With Rock being a legendary comedian, Packer and his staff didn’t have a single worry about Rock improvising his material on the spot. “He didn’t tell one of the planned jokes, but you can’t make it up. “I said: ‘Watch this, he’s gonna kill.’ Because I knew he had an amazing lineup of jokes that we had - we had him in the prompter,” Packer recalled during the morning show. He said that Rock had pre-prepared jokes ready to roll in the teleprompter, but never got to any of those jokes. Packer says that like so many live viewers, even he and his production staff initially thought that the incident was some sort of off-the-cuff comedic bit between the actor and the comedian. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Chris Rock backstage during the show at the 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 27, 2022. And they said, ‘Would you like us to take any action? And he said no.” “And even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’ The LAPD officers finish laying out what his options were. He was like, ‘No, I’m fine.’ He was like ‘no, no, no,'” he said, throwing up his hands in calm protest to demonstrate Rock’s demeanor. “And as they were talking, Chris was, he was being very dismissive of those options. However, Packer says Rock was adamant that legal action was not a route that he wished to take from the start of the conversation. “They were saying, ‘This is battery.’ That was the word they used in that moment,” Packer said. Holmes on his April 1 appearance on GMA, LAPD officers met with him and Rock while the show was still underway, presenting several courses of action against Smith for his violent outburst. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)Īs Packer told host T.J. HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: (L-R) Will Packer and Shayla Cowan arrives at the 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 27, 2022. However, much of their hard work has unfortunately been overshadowed by the hot topic on everyone’s tongue this week.

He, alongside his production partner Shayla Cowan, brought back formal hosts for the first time in three years (three hosts for the first time in over 35 years) and added several surprise elements and show shakeups to draw in additional viewership. Packer oversaw the production of the 94th annual Academy Awards, the first Black man to do so, with an all-Black production team at his side. The screenwriter and film producer spoke out publicly for the first time on Good Morning America Friday morning, giving a never-before-heard perspective on what occurred in the production bay backstage in the moments immediately following the shocking altercation. As rumors swirl about what happened backstage in the immediate moments after the now-infamous altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock during Sunday night’s live broadcast of the Oscars ceremony, Will Packer is giving his perspective as the evening’s showrunner.

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