The week is almost over and the Oscars’ altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock is still buzzing. As everyone continues to dish their own opinion on the incident, new sources have come out about Smith being asked to leave the event.
According to TMZ, Will Smith was never asked to leave the Oscars after slapping Chris Rock. He was actually told by the show’s producers that he could stay for the rest of the event. The Academy said Wednesday (March 29) that they asked Smith to leave but he refused. Sources told TMZ that there was a heated conversation between his reps and Academy officials backstage and that the decision for him to leave was mixed. Ultimately, they never reached a decision on giving him the boot.
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TMZ was told that during one of the commercial breaks, Oscars producer Will Packer told Smith, “We do not want you to leave.” Packer approached Smith a little over thirty minutes after the slap and told Smith that he could stay. The King Richard actor would win the Best Actor Award around five minutes later.
It’s unsure why the Academy released its initial statement that clearly wasn’t true. Later that day, the Academy claimed that Smith had become aggressive in his stance and refused to leave.
Chris Rock has since responded to the slap, telling Variety, “I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend. I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point, I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”
[Via]