Oscars 2023 Will Include a ‘Crisis Team’ After Will Smith Slap

Arguably the biggest viral moment of 2022 was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, but the Academy is putting a “crisis team” in place to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again this year.

In an interview with Time (via Variety), The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer explained the preparations.

“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.”

The Academy admitted it was unprepared for last year’s incident, with Academy Awards producer Will Packer even admitting he, “thought it was a bit. I wasn’t concerned at all.” Kramer continued to explain that this year, the Academy wants to be ready for any kind of scenario.

“Because of 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.”

The slap led to Smith getting handed a 10-year ban from the Oscars. The actor has since embarked on multiple apology tours, while Rock capitalized on the moment by incorporating it into some of his comedy shows.

As for this year’s Oscars, you can ready yourself by checking out the nominations, with Everything Everywhere All At Once leading the way with 11 nods. The 2023 Oscars is set for Sunday, March 12.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.