Chris Rock didn’t actually get to tell most of his planned jokes while presenting the award for Best Documentary at The Oscars. Good Morning America sat down with producer Will Packer to speak about the wild social media moment. While a lot of outlets are still dragging out postmortems on the entire scene, audiences still seem to be hungry for more details. During the interview, Packer explains that he thought that Rock and Will Smith were doing a bit when the King Richard star strolled up on stage. However, that levity quickly devolved into concern once the vocal exchange took place. It’s not like anyone would have remembered what Rock said anyway after the slap became “an event” on social media and basically overshadowed the rest of the show. But, Packer would have to come forward and discuss this at some point.
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Rock actually addressed the incident during a stand-up show this week. “How was your weekend?” he told a sold-out crowd this Wednesday. “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.”
Smith’s apology has been everywhere since he posted it on Monday. “Violence in all of its form is poisonous and destructive,” the Oscar winner wrote. “My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.”
He continued, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
The Fresh Prince star also took time to apologize to the Williams Family. “I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my King Richard Family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us,” he explained. “I am a work in progress.”
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