It has been 5 days since Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped the sonic coins out of comedian Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The incident has been creating waves all over the world but especially within the Academy as the management is still looking into the matter and trying to figure out the consequences of Will's actions. As days pass by, more information regarding the aftermath of the slap surfaces.
The show's producers revealed that police officers were on standby and ready to arrest Will Smith for his assault stating it was seriously considered a potential battery. When officers came to speak to Chris Rock after this unfortunate event, they told him, "This is battery. We will go get him, we are prepared, we are prepared to get him right now, you can press charges, we can arrest him." But according to sources, Chris was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, "No, no, no, I’m fine." The LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officers finished laying out his options and asked the comedian, "Would you like us to take any action?", to which Rock responded with a simple no.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spoke with Will Smith on Zoom before an emergency board meeting over his assault on comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars. It is reported that Will Smith apologized to the Academy on that Zoom call. The call was said to have lasted 30 minutes while another source described it as 'brief'. Smith also apologized again to the Academy President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson.
The shocking moment came to light when Chris Rock appeared on the stage and chaffed about Will Smith's wife and actor Jada Pinkett Smith being in G.I. Jane because of her shaved head, which triggered Will, prompting him to slap Chris Rock as he then returned to his seat and yelled out, "Keep my wife's name out of your f*****g mouth."
