Academy Adds Oscars ‘Crisis Team’ After Will Smith Slap: ‘We’ll Be Prepared for Anything We May Not Anticipate’
variety.comZack Sharf The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer confirmed in an interview with Time magazine that the organization has implemented a new “crisis team” for the upcoming 2023 Oscars in order to quickly navigate any potential real-time emergency.
The creation of a crisis team is a response to the 2022 Oscars, where Will Smith infamously walked on stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock across the face.
Academy president Janet Yang previously said the group’s response to the incident was not swift enough. “We have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before, and many plans in place,” Kramer said. “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.” “Because of [the slap] last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars,” Kramer continued. “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.
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