Producer for 2023 The Oscars awards ceremony explains Will Smith’s reaction to the now-famous slapstick. Last year, at the 2022 Oscars, Smith slapped host Chris Rock on stage after he rose from the audience and joked about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head as a result of her alopecia diagnosis. Later that evening, Smith accepted the award for Best Actor and apologized to the Academy and other nominees for the outburst in his speech. The next day, Smith apologized to Rock via social media.
At the press conference (via Diversity), Academy Awards executive producer Molly McNearney said this year’s awards show will feature humor, but the show won’t focus heavily on the story. While McNeerney says there’s an opportunity to cover the story, the Academy doesn’t want the 2023 Oscars to be about last year and its scandal. However, it will not be covered at this year’s presentation as Smith resigned from the Academy after the slap. Read McNearney’s full review below:
“We’re going to acknowledge that and then move on. We’re not going to make this year the same as last year. It’s definitely something we can and will handle in a comedic way.”
How the Smith-Rock hit affected Oscar
While the Academy was quick to acknowledge the slap in the face, the Oscars’ creative team acknowledged that this year’s ceremony had to undergo major changes after last year’s incident. Smith won the award for Best Actor in 2022, which usually means he will award the award to a 2023 recipient. However, since Smith is no longer a member of the Academy and has been without an Oscar for 10 years, this will not be possible. Instead, the team had to get creative, said showrunner Ricky Kirschner.we’ve reviewed the show and we have starters that make sense for the categories.”
Along with changes to the lineup of presenters for the 2023 Oscars, the Smith-Rock bump also changed how the Oscars function as a live televised event. Kirschner said that because of last year, the Oscars have a full crisis team that will be responsible for responding to unplanned events during the live broadcast. Kirschner said while he hopes the crisis team won’t be needed moving forward, having one in place will ensure any crisis is handled in a professional and timely manner.
Although Smith’s strike is not the first shocking incident What happened at a major live televised event has become synonymous with the 2022 Oscars and has certainly changed the expectations of viewers for the show. With the crisis team now in place, the Academy is in a better position to deal with unexpected events moving forward. Although it remains to be seen how it will turn out The Oscars jokes about the incident, much to the relief that this embarrassing slap is being told in public at all.
Source: Diversity