The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is trying to prepare for the unexpected with “a whole crisis team” that has been implemented in response to Will Smith’s slap during last year’s ceremony.
via Complex:
That’s the word straight from Academy CEO Bill Kramer, who this week spoke with Time about the impending 2023 edition of the annual awards ceremony. Speaking on the difficult-to-plan-for aspect of live TV, Kramer first pointed to this year’s returning host Jimmy Kimmel as the ideal choice for that exact reason. From there, he dove into “crisis” chatter and how this feature will be worked into the behind-the-scenes proceedings of the 2023 event.
“But we have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before, and many plans in place,” Kramer, who was named Academy CEO in June of last year, told Eliana Dockterman. “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.”
Elaborating further after the slap was specifically mentioned by the interviewer, Kramer imagined how a hypothetical incident involving the need for this “crisis team” might play out.
“Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars,” he added.
A crisis team? Give us a break.
