After the Will Smith slap, the Academy Award has taken matters into its own hands. Academy CEO Bill Kramer has stated that “a whole crisis team” is in place for the Academy Awards next — a first for the ceremony in its 95 years.
After being interviewed by Time magazine regarding the situation, Kramer said, “we have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before, and many plans in place. We’ve run many scenarios. So it is our hope that we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now but that we’re planning for just in case it does happen.”
Deadline continued to write about Kramer’s feelings:
“Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars. But these crisis plans — the crisis communication teams and structures we have in place — allow us to say, ‘This is the group that we have to gather very quickly. This is how we all come together. This is the spokesperson. This will be the statement.’ And obviously, depending on the specifics of the crisis, and let’s hope something doesn’t happen and we never have to use these, but we already have frameworks in place that we can modify.”
The Crisis Team came after actor Chris Rock made a G.I. Jane 2 joke about Smith’s wife, Jada. Smith then decided to walk onstage and slapped Rock across the face, where the comedian replied, “Wow, Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.” After returning to his seat, Smith yelled at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out your f*cking mouth,” twice.
The 95th annual Academy Awards will be taken place on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.
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