Oscars ‘Crisis Team’ in Place for This Year’s Ceremony After Will Smith Slap

February 23, 2023

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Thanks to Will Smith, an Oscars ‘crisis team’ has been built for any event it “may not anticipate,” e.g. the host getting slapped on stage.

Bill Kramer (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, CEO) disclosed that the Academy has formed a “whole crisis team” for the 2023 Oscars after the meltdown that took place at last year’s show.

Since smacking Chris Rock on stage at the 2022 Academy Awards, Will Smith has resigned from The Academy. In addition, the “Emancipation” actor has been banned from attending the ceremony for a decade.

Kramer spoke: “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.”

The assault on Rock, Kramer furthered, made academy leaders realize anything could happen during the ceremony and an Oscars ‘crisis team’ is a method to prepare for the unforeseeable.

Oscars ‘Crisis Team’ Will Protect Host Jimmy Kimmel!

“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,” said Kramer.

Janet Yang (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, President) recently said The Academy’s reaction to the stage smack was “inadequate.”

Yang remarked: “We learned from this that the academy must be fully transparent and accountable in our actions, and particularly in times of crisis you must act swiftly, compassionately, and decisively for ourselves and for our industry. You should and can expect no less from us going forward.”

Will Academy Awards 2023 host Jimmy Kimmel joke about the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap and need the ‘crisis team’ afterward? Let us know your thoughts below!

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