Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer says a ‘whole crisis team’ is in place for the upcoming 2023 Academy Awards – the first for the ceremony in its 95-year history.
Speaking with TIME Magazine, Kramer says they have “many plans in place” and have run many scenarios to the point that they hope “we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now” and “we’re planning for just in case it does happen.”
The move is seen as a reaction to Will Smith’s infamous on-stage face-slap of Chris Rock last year as the latter was about to present the Best Documentary Oscar.
Rock made a crack about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith and then Smith proceeded to walk onstage and smacked Rock across the face before returning to his seat and yelling at him several times.
Though Smith later would return to the stage to pick up the Best Actor Oscar for “King Richard,” the fallout of the incident was fast and dominated the post-Oscars talk for weeks afterwards. Smith has ultimately been banned from attending another Oscar ceremony for ten years and resigned from the Academy.
The Academy itself took a lot of heat over its perceived lack of immediate action, issuing a statement later that night saying it “does not condone violence in any form.”
Kramer says that because of what happened last year, the Academy has “opened our minds to the many things that can happen” leading to the establishment of these crisis communication teams and structures.
The 95th annual Academy Awards will be handed out on March 12th at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
