Police officers had been "prepared" to take action against Will Smith, including potentially arresting him, following the Oscars slap, a ceremony producer has said.
The actor, 53, stormed the stage of the award show on Sunday night (March 27) following a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, 50, by guest presenter Chris Rock, 57.
The comedian had suggested she looked like G.I. Jane, assumed to be in reference to her shaved head - with her said to have previously suffered hair loss due to alopecia.
Smith - who's been married to Pinkett Smith since 1997 - confronted Rock and slapped him during the live broadcast from the Dolby Theatre, located in Los Angeles.
The outburst has attracted significant attention in the days since it happened, with it having been reported in recent days that Rock had opted against filing a police report.
It has now been alleged that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had been "prepared" to take action against Smith, had the comedian opted to press charges.
That's according to Will Packer, 47, - a producer on the Oscars this year - who has now opened up about what happened in the aftermath of the altercation to ABC News.
He said the LAPD spoke to Rock following the altercation, with him alleging in his recent interview that police officers had referred to the incident as "battery" at the time.
The producer - whose interview will be released in full today - said that officers told Rock they were prepared to take action and laid out the options to the comedian.
Packer alleged that officers had explained to Rock: "We will go get him. We are prepared. We're prepared to get him right now. You can press charges. We can arrest him."
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Packer said the comedian had been "very dismissive" of the options that were given to him by the officers and claimed that Rock declined the opportunity for action to be taken.
A spokesperson for the LAPD told us that at all Oscars award ceremonies the police department are "in the area."
The spokesperson further commented that had the victim decided to make a private person's arrest, officers from the LAPD would have facilitated the arrest.
They however confirmed that there was no arrest made and there has been no further action taken by LAPD on behalf of the victim or anyone else in relation to the incident.
The Mirror approached reps of Rock and Smith.
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