Oscars: What Was Happening in the ABC Control Room as Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeABC’s Rob Mills was sitting in the Oscars production trailer on Sunday night when the show’s producers and director Glenn Weiss realized things were starting to go awry.“Chris Rock came on and he was doing, I think, material based on what happened that night as any comedian will do,” Mills recalled to Variety the day after the now-infamous Will Smith/Chris Rock Oscar Slap. “He made the [‘G.I.

Jane’] joke. Obviously, you could see the joke did not land with Jada. And then you see Will start to get up and walk up.”The professionals in the control room are used to unplanned incidents — including Weiss, a live TV veteran who also directed the Oscars the year “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as best picture before “Moonlight” ultimately won. “There have certainly been unpredictable moments where people have gotten up and done things, so we thought this was one of those,” Mills said.

The “G.I. Jane” quip was an ad-lib not in the script, Mills added. The severity of the situation quickly became apparent when Rock and Smith both started swearing. “You started to realize this is real once Chris, who certainly knows the limits of broadcast standards, said, ‘Will Smith slapped the shit out of me,'” Mills said. “That’s when it became obvious that this was not a joke.”For viewers at home, the confusion continued as ABC’s censor dropped out the audio for a lengthy period of time. “When you’re on the button, which I wasn’t but our our standards people were, I think you obviously go towards overcorrection than letting something get through,” Mills said.International broadcasters get their own raw feed of the ceremony and must decide on their own whether to bleep — which is why unbleeped.