Oscars 2023: What is the ‘crisis team’ put in place post Will Smith’s slap fiasco?

Will Smith and Chris Rock's slapgate at Oscars 2022 had a major impact on the planning for this year's awards ceremony. The Academy Awards are held every year to honour the best in cinema. However, last year, the incident involving Rock and Smith overshadowed the Academy Awards. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has formed a 'crisis team', suited to deal with any unexpected events. The crisis team is a direct response to Smith and Rock’s slap incident. Janet Yang, the Academy president, previously stated that the team didn’t respond to the slapgate event in time. 

What is the Oscars 2023 crisis team?

The Academy CEO Bill Kramer spoke to Time magazine ahead of the Oscars 2023 and revealed the constitution of a crisis team. He said that because of slapgate, the Academy is open to the possibility that things could possibly go wrong. He said that while they have the framework in place, they’re hoping that nothing goes wrong and the crisis team wouldn’t have to step in. 

“Because of [the slap] last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars. 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. This is how we all come together. This is the spokesperson. This will be the statement. And obviously depending on the specifics of the crisis, and let’s hope something doesn’t happen and we never have to use these, but we already have frameworks in place that we can modify.”

What happened between Will Smith and Chris Rock?

Chris Rock was set to present the Oscars trophy in the Best Documentary Feature category in 2022. However, Rock joked about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who came to the event with a bald head following her diagnosis of alopecia. The joke agitated Smith, who walked up to the stage and slapped Rock. He then screamed at Rock after taking his seat, “Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!” Smith later accepted the Oscar for his performance in King Richard, and broke down during his acceptance speech.