Arguably the biggest viral moment of 2022 was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, but the Academy is putting a “crisis team” in place to make sure nothing like that happens again this year.
In an interview with time (via diverse), Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, explained the preparations.
“We have a full crisis team, something we haven’t had before, and many plans in place,” Kramer said. “We’ve played out many scenarios. So we hope to be prepared for anything we might not expect right now but plan for just in case.”
academy He admitted that he was not ready Of last year’s incident, Oscars producer Will Packer admitted, “I thought it was a little bit. I wasn’t worried at all.” Kramer went on to explain that this year the Academy wants to be ready for any type of scenario.
“Because of the past year, we’ve opened our minds to so many things that could happen at the Oscars. But these crisis plans—crisis liaison teams and structures that we have in place—allow us to say, ‘This is the group we have to get together very quickly.'” This is how we all meet. This is the official 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 it, but we already have frameworks in place that we can adjust.”
The slap resulted in Smith receiving a 10-year ban from the Academy Awards. The actor has since gone on multiple apology tours, while Rock capitalized on the moment by incorporating it into some of his comedic performances.
As for this year’s Academy Awards, you can prepare yourself by checking out the nominations, as Everything Everywhere leads the way with 11 nods. The 2023 Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, March 12th.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with minor lines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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