The story of what happened in the room at Sunday night’s 2022 Academy Awards has shifted once again. Less than 24 hours after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences said that Will Smith “refused” to leave the Dolby Theater when asked after he stormed the stage and smacked comedian Chris Rock, Variety is reporting that the King Richard star — who went on to collect the night’s best actor award a short time later — was never formally encouraged to exit the building.
Citing “sources close to the situation,” the report claims that “in the chaos that surrounded the altercation, the Academy and the show’s producer sent mixed message about whether Smith should be expelled from the event.”
On Wednesday (March 30), the Academy said in a statement that its Board of Governors had initiated disciplinary proceedings against Smith “for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy.”
Wednesday’s statement added, “Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.”
Noting that the updated description of what went on after Smith’s open-handed attack on Rock — which shocked the audience in the room and around the world — “doesn’t sit well” with some of the individuals with first-hand knowledge of the confusing moments after the incident, Variety reported that the unnamed sources laid out conflicting scenarios.
“They claim that some Academy members expressed that they wanted Smith removed, but they also say that no formal or explicit ask was ever made,” the report claimed. “Another person familiar with the Academy said that Smith was asked to leave through an on-site representative. That call was made by Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson, who, a source says, asked for Smith to leave the show instead of remaining in the auditorium for the rest of the telecast.”
But, unnamed sources who were at the Dolby reportedly said that show producer Will Packer was the “key” to Smith remaining in his front-row seat. “In the roughly 30 minutes following Smith’s attack on Rock, before the award for best actor was presented, Packer walked out into the orchestra and conferred with Smith, according to two witnesses,” Variety reported about the producer who is friends with Rock and who was also a producer on the 2017 film Girls Trip, which starred Jada Pinkett Smith; Smith’s slap occurred after presenter Rock made a G.I. Jane joke about Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle, which is a result of her battle with the autoimmune disease alopecia, which causes hair loss.
“Packer said that he and the production ‘officially’ wanted Smith to stay for the remainder of the show,” one of the eyewitnesses reportedly told the magazine. “Another source close to Packer denied that the producer urged Smith to remain.” Neither Packer nor the Academy responded to Variety‘s request for comment.
As part of its formal probe the Academy said on Wednesday that Smith could face “suspension, expulsion or other sanctions.” Following many condemnations, including from the Academy, Smith took to Instagram on Monday to apologize to Rock.“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” he wrote.
Rock has yet to make a statement, but the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Billboard that he has declined to press charges. Rock returned to the stage on Wednesday night in Boston for a stand-up show, at which he did not formally address the slap in his set, telling the crowd he didn’t have any jokes about the incident, but was “still kind of processing” what happened.
