Oscars producer Will Packer, a Hollywood mega-producer with dozens of blockbuster credits, called Will Smith’s assault against Chris Rock live on stage a “very painful moment” after initially appearing to downplay the attack.
“Welp…I said it wouldn’t be boring,” Packer tweeted on Sunday night as a tacit reference to the moment that Will Smith violently assaulted comedian Chris Rock during an internationally televised event. When one social media user accused Packer of joking about a violent physical assault, Packer responded that the moment was “very painful” to witness.
“Making jokes about an assault that happened during your show isn’t the congratulatory message you think it is,” said one user.
“Black people have a defiant spirit of laughter when it comes to dealing with pain because there has been so much of it. I don’t feel the need to elucidate that for you,” Packer responded. “But I also don’t mind being transparent and say that this was a very painful moment for me. On many levels.”
The Academy Awards fell dead silent on Sunday night when Will Smith suddenly stormed the stage and publicly slapped comedian Chris Rock for cracking a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s short haircut.
“Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth,” Will Smith shouted at a visibly surprised Rock after walking back to his seat.
***LANGUAGE WARNING***
Will Smith stayed for the remainder of the evening and even accepted the award for Best Actor, during which he appeared to condone his behavior by saying “love will make you do crazy things” and how he was channeling his character Richard Williams by defending his family.
Smith did attended the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty and danced the night away.
On Monday, after the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) denounced the actor’s behavior along with the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG), Will Smith issued an apology on Instagram:
As of this writing, Chris Rock has not publicly commented on the incident and was reportedly consulting with his publicist after the incident occurred on Sunday night.
“Rock’s manager, Jason Weinberg, sat stunned, and then was asked to go speak with the Los Angeles Police Department,” noted The Hollywood Reporter (THR). “Rock ultimately declined to press charges against Smith.”