There has been a ton of speculation as to why Will Smith was not asked to leave this year's Oscars following his onstage assault of comedian Chris Rock. The Academy made a statement earlier this week where they confirm that they did ask Smith to leave but the King Richard actor refused to do so.

The producer of this year's infamous Academy Awards, Will Packer, has finally come forward with his side of what actually happened and why Smith was not asked to leave. In an interview with Good Morning America's T.J. Holmes, Packer recounts the decision to not have Will Smith removed from the rest of the night's festivities, claiming that he had not been a part of those conversations, instead, giving leadership Rock's side of the incident, who he had talked to earlier,

"I immediately went to the Academy leadership that was on-site and I said, 'Chris Rock doesn't want that.' I said, 'Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse.' That was Chris' image. His tone was not retaliatory, his tone was not aggressive and angry. And so I was advocating for what Rock wanted in that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time. Because, as it has now been explained to me, that was the only option at that point. It has been explained to me that there was a conversation that I was not a part of to ask him to voluntarily leave."

Packer expressed his regret for having Smith stay, wishing the actor would have apologized to Rock for his actions during his Best Actor speech,

"If he wasn't going to give that speech which made it truly better, then yes it would have been better had Smith not stayed."

The Academy's Board of Governors is still looking into the incident and possible sanctions which could be placed on Will Smith. The Oscar slap is a story that will continue to unfold as the days go on and Entarz will keep you posted as new information comes to light.

Tags
Will Smith, Chris rock, Good Morning America