Oscars Hires ‘Crisis Team’ Amid Fears Of Sequel To Will Smith's 'The Slap'

The Oscars are, this time, prepared in the event a man walks on stage to slap another man.

The organizers for the ceremony have hired a crisis management team should anyone pull a Will Smith this time around.

“We have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before, and many plans in place,” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer tells Time Magazine.

“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. Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars."

For a refresher:

Kramer also says they chose the host best equipped to handle a potential sequel to "The Slap." Jimmy Kimmel is his name.

“It’s so important to have a host who knows how to handle live television and a live audience. That’s a very specific skill, and there aren’t a lot of people who can do that well. Jimmy is a dream to work with,” Kramer concludes.

Smart PR it is for the Oscars to hire a crisis team. Doing so allows them to announce they have hired a crisis team. Reminding viewers of "The Slap" gives them a reason to think about, care about, and (maybe) watch the event.

What other Oscar moment of the past decade can you recall?

The event has become overly political and dull. No one has heard of half of the films nominated -- as evidenced by this year's list of Best Picture nominees:

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Elvis”

"Everything Everywhere All at Once"

“The Fabelmans”

"Tar”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

“Women Talking”

“Triangle of Sadness”

Aside from "Top Gun: Maverick" -- which has no shot to win --- the nominees hardly harken back to the days of 1995, the year "Forrest Gump," "The Shawshank Redemption," "and Pulp Fiction" duked it out for the award.

("Gump," undeservedly, took home the gold. "Pulp" was robbed.)

Finally, offensive it is to see "Avatar 2" make the cut at the Oscars. As a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic recently explained, casting white people to play blue aliens is a gross form of  “cultural appropriation."

Someone better get slapped if anyone is to tune in.

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Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick where he reports and analyzes the latest topics in media, culture, sports, and politics.. Burack has become a prominent voice in media and has been featured on several shows across OutKick and industry related podcasts and radio stations.