In a surprise to no one, the G.I. Jane bit heard ‘round the world didn’t get past Oscars producers—because Oscars producers never saw it. Following an altercation between comedian Chris Rock and actor Will Smith involving a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith on Sunday (y’know, The Smack), ABC’s unscripted chief Rob Mills revealed reactions from the show’s control room.
“There have certainly been unpredictable moments where people have gotten up and done things, so we thought this was one of those,” Mills told Variety.
“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 continued. “That’s when it became obvious that this was not a joke.”
When asked why the show was not stopped following the swear-laden incident, Mills explained: “You have to remember that you’re putting a live show on. Had this been something that was being pre-taped, we would have stopped down. Things would have been addressed. We would have seen what to do next. But here, you have to remember you’ve got a show to do. Obviously, this was something that was unfortunate, but it was not to a degree that you think, ‘Okay, we need to just stop the entire show.’ And the show just kind of went on.”
Rock, who has so far declined to press charges against Smith, hosted the Oscars twice before presenting Best Documentary on Sunday. He took comedic swings at the Smiths back then too—quipping that Jada’s participation in the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite boycott wasn’t so much a political statement as it was a cover to hide that she “wasn’t invited.”
Rock hasn’t publicly commented on the situation since hitting back at Smith onstage (“Wow, dude. It was a G.I. Jane joke.”) But Smith offered apologies both during his speech and later via social media: “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.”
The Academy is reportedly unlikely to “take back” Smith’s Best Actor statuette, but may be looking into suspending the performer. Whether Rock will face Academy-backed repercussions for going off script isn’t clear.