A “crisis team” will be introduced at the Oscars to handle any unanticipated events, after Will Smith stormed the stage and slapped Chris Rock during last year’s ceremony.
Academy chief executive Bill Kramer said the new team had “run many scenarios” in the hope that they will be “prepared for anything” that might take place at the gala on 12 March, which is due to be hosted by US comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
“Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars,” Kramer told Time magazine. “We have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before, and many plans in place.’”
The scenes at last year’s ceremony were unprecedented and caused a scandal among guests inside the Dolby theatre and across social media globally. Smith’s actions were in response to a joke Rock made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, after she shaved her hair off following an alopecia diagnosis. After returning to his seat, Smith repeatedly shouted: “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth.”
Despite the incident, Smith remained at the ceremony and later collected the Oscar for best actor for his performance in King Richard.
Although he later resigned from the Academy, it took several more days for the organisation to announce a decision on his membership. He was ultimately banned from the Oscars gala and all Academy events for 10 years.
Academy president Janet Yang has since said the organisation’s response to the incident had been “inadequate”. Speaking at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon earlier this month, Yang said the Academy had learned to be “fully transparent and accountable in our actions”.
“Particularly in times of crisis we must act swiftly and compassionately and decisively for ourselves and for our industry,” she said.
Kramer, who took over as CEO last July, said the new crisis team would be able to gather “very quickly” to issue a response to any real-time incidents.
The unit was deployed following the surprise best actress nomination for Andrea Riseborough for her performance in the little-seen indie drama To Leslie. The British actor secured a nomination after a last-minute campaign from celebrities including Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow – leading to accusations of unfair tactics and the Academy announcing an internal review of campaign procedures.
The organisation soon said the activity in question did “not rise to the level that the film’s nomination should be rescinded”. But it did add that it had discovered concerning campaigning tactics that were “being addressed with the responsible parties directly”.
Kramer said: “You know, that happened on a Tuesday and, six days later, we were able to issue our formal statement from the board that really carved out a plan for us.”
Asked about the ability to respond to “potential surprises” at this year’s ceremony, he also discussed the virtues of having Kimmel host it. “That’s why you want someone like Jimmy on stage who is used to dealing with live TV: Things don’t always go as planned. So you have a host in place who can really pivot and manage those moments.”
Kimmel hosted the Oscars in 2017 when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly announced La La Land as the winner of best film. Moments later, Kimmel had to rectify the error. “It hit me that I was the only one wearing a microphone, and I should probably go up there to sort it out,” the chat show host said after the incident.
Last year’s Oscars were hosted by comedians Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer. Kramer said it was “so important to have a host who knows how to handle live television and a live audience”.
Tasked with convincing dwindling viewers to tune into the Academy Awards, he added that this year’s show would be “much more immersive, much more nominee-focused, and much more focused on all the disciplines of film-making”.
