Hollywood A-listers backstage at the Academy Awards gasped after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage on Sunday night, ceremony attendees confirmed.
The host of celebrities in the Green Room at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, including tennis stars Serena Williams and Venus Williams, were left stunned and in disbelief when they saw Smith storm the stage during Rock’s awards ceremony and punch him.
“It was very quiet,” a source who was in the Green Room during the incident told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Everyone was like, ‘What the hell is happening here?! Did that just happen?! Oh my God!’ People gasped,” another insider claimed.
The insiders also reported seeing Jake Gyllenhaal, Zoe Kravitz, Kevin Costner, Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and John Travolta backstage during the attack.
As the ceremony went into a commercial break, outgoing Academy Awards CEO Dawn Hudson and President David Rubin rushed backstage along with the Oscars announcer, looking “as serious as possible” and “went in very, very quickly.” Private Space” with Smith’s representative, Meredith O’Sullivan Wasson.
Sources said Hudson and Rubin never returned to audiences. Wasson reportedly spent several commercial breaks traveling between backstage and Smith’s seat, where she conferred with the actor. Jada Pinkett Smith, who was spotted holding her husband’s hand, also reportedly consulted with her own representatives during this time.
Rock skipped returning to the green room after presenting the award for Best Documentary.
The crowd of celebs in the Green Room at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, including tennis stars Serena Williams and Venus Williams (pictured), were stunned after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage during Sunday night’s Academy Awards
As chaos broke out on stage, Oscars producer and director Glenn Weiss made the decision to keep the live show going as it turned out the slap wasn’t a joke and a serious altercation had ensued.
“You started to realize that this was real when Chris, who certainly knows the limits of broadcast standards, said, ‘Will Smith gave me the shit,'” ABC’s Rob Mills, who was on the production trailer at the time, said Variety.
“That’s when it became clear that it wasn’t a joke.”
Serena and Venus Williams (pictured) were backstage during the breakout. The insiders also reported seeing Jake Gyllenhaal, Zoe Kravitz, Kevin Costner, Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and John Travolta backstage
The station’s censors dropped the audio from the show for an extended period of time, confusing many American viewers. Mills claimed that officers often play it safe in such situations.
“If you’re on the button, which I wasn’t, but our standards were, I think you obviously tend to overcorrect than let something through,” he said.
Mills claimed Rock’s joke comparing Pinkett Smith to GI Jane was ad lib.
“Chris Rock came along and he made, I think, material based on what happened that night, like any comedian will,” Mills said.
‘He did it [‘G.I. Jane’] to kid. Obviously you could see that the joke didn’t end up on Jada. And then you see Will get up and go upstairs.’
According to Mills, control room operators are prepared for unplanned incidents during live broadcasts, but the slap wasn’t what they expected.
“There were certainly unpredictable moments where people would get up and do things, so we thought this was one of them,” he said.
“You have to remember that you are doing a live show. Had this been something that was pre-recorded, we would have stopped. Things would have been addressed. We would have seen what to do next.’
“It was very quiet,” a source who was in the Green Room during the incident told The Hollywood Reporter. “Everyone was like, ‘What the hell is happening here?! Did that just happen?! Oh my God!’ People gasped,” another insider claimed.
As the ceremony went into a commercial break, outgoing Academy Awards CEO Dawn Hudson (left) and President David Rubin (right), along with the Oscars announcer, stormed backstage, looked “as serious as possible” and “left.” very, very quickly into a private room’ with Smith’s representative. Sources claim Hudson and Rubin never returned to audiences
Smith’s rep, Meredith O’Sullivan Wasson, reportedly spent several commercial breaks traveling back and forth between backstage and Smith’s seat, where she conferred with the actor. Jada Pinkett Smith, who was spotted holding her husband’s hand, also reportedly consulted with her own representatives during this time
Mills added, “But here you have to keep in mind that you have to make a show. Obviously that was an unfortunate thing, but it wasn’t to the extent that you’re like, ‘Okay, we’ve just got to stop the whole show.’ And the show kind of went on.’
He also claimed the Academy needed to investigate the situation “post mortem,” suggesting they might be able to put in place new protocols to prevent something like this from happening again.
Mills reiterated that the odds that a person who was nominated for best actor, which Smith won, would be involved in an incident is “almost a billion to one.”
“This was a real nearly billion-to-one moment where the person involved in this incident was the likely winner for best actor,” Mills explained.
“So it’s just a scenario that you don’t really know and you just have to keep the show going in the meantime and then of course AMPAS will address that later in the autopsy.”
Presenter Chris Rock speaks on stage as Will Smith and Jada Pinkett (below left) listen from their seats at the Oscars
After the slap, Smith was comforted and comforted by Sean Combs (left) and Tyler Perry (right).
Bradley Cooper also pulled Smith aside and was spotted in close conversation with him
Shortly after beating Rock, Smith won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Richard Williams, father of tennis stars Serena and Venus, in the film King Richard.
Moments after the attack, Serena Williams shared her shock on her Instagram Stories, sharing a short video of her face with her jaw dropped.
There are no words in her first video, so her facial expression can speak for itself.
“I just sat down because I thought I had to put the drink away because…” Williams, 40, said moments later in another video, wide-eyed.
The tennis champion may have been reluctant to condemn Smith too clearly because she was at the Oscars on Sunday night for a film he starred in and produced.
She and her sister Venus, 41, also have executive producing credits on the film.
However, Instagram videos – and particularly the second one, in which she shows a side eye and frowns – seem to indicate that she doesn’t approve of Smith’s outburst.
Serena Williams shared her stunned reaction after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars on Sunday night
“I just sat down because I thought I had to put the drink away because…” Serena says moments later in another video, wide-eyed