After Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock onstage at the Academy Awards on Sunday, Los Angeles police were prepared to arrest Smith, according to an interview with the awards show producer, but the comedian insisted that he did not want to press charges.
In an excerpt from an interview with ABC News, which aired Thursday on “World News Tonight,” producer Will Packer said Los Angeles police officers told Rock, “This is assault.” They claimed that he could press charges and that they were prepared to arrest Smith that night.
“They said ‘we’re going to get him.’ “And as they were talking, Chris was… being very dismissive of those options. He was like ‘no, I’m fine.’ He was like ‘no, no, no.
Los Angeles police released a statement the night of the Oscars saying, “The person involved has refused to file a police report.”
Rock made a brief reference to the incident Wednesday at a stand-up show in Boston, his first public appearance since the Oscars. He told the audience that he was “still processing what happened” and that he would have more to say at a later date.
Could Will Smith face charges for hitting Chris Rock?
Will Smith met with the Academy after the Oscars slap
Will Smith met with leadership from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences earlier this week and apologized for slapping Chris Rock onstage during Sunday’s Oscars telecast, a source close to the situation told Citizen Free Press. .
Smith met with members of the Academy “for 30 minutes via Zoom, where he apologized and they listened to him,” the source said.
“He was told his actions would have consequences,” the source continued.
News of the meeting comes after a source told Citizen Free Press that Academy leadership “strongly requested” Smith’s publicist that the actor leave the ceremony following the onstage incident.
Smith “was strongly asked by his publicist to leave the Oscars. He refused and that was communicated to Academy leadership,” the person said.