Organizers of the 95th Annual Oscar Awards have a “crisis team” in place to make sure an incident like The Slap never happens again.
During the Oscar’s telecast last March, actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock for cracking a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s close-shaven head.
“Wow, dude, it was a G.I. Jane joke,” Rock said, as Smith warned him to “Keep my wife’s name out your f*cking mouth!”
Later that evening, Smith cried happy tears after winning his first ever Oscar Award. He apologized for his actions, but the damage to his career was already done.
After catching heat for their non-response to The Slap, the Academy banned Smith from attending the Oscar Awards or Academy events for 10 years.
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Academy CEO Bill Kramer confirmed that “a crisis team” will be in place at this year’s event, which airs on March 12. He said the team will be ready to jump into action if any incidents of violence occur during the broadcast.
Kramer said the team practiced “many scenarios” that could occur. He added there will also be “structures” and “frameworks” in place to respond to any disturbance.
“We have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before and many plans in place,” Kramer said. “We’ve run many scenarios. So it is our hope that we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now but that we’re planning for just in case it does happen.”
