(NewsNation) — Many have questioned why actor Will Smith was allowed to remain seated front row at the Academy Awards after he slapped comedian Chris Rock on live television.

“Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated,” the academy said Wednesday. “While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.”

But some sources are saying that Smith was never actually officially asked to leave.

Deadline is reporting that Academy President David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson asked Smith’s public representative to “suggest” the actor leave the theater.

Alternatively, TMZ reports the executive producer of the Oscars, Will Packer, suggested to Smith that he could stay.

“It took Will (Smith) 24 hours to apologize. That was to save his Oscar from being taken away, I believe,” Roger Neal, a PR representative for Miss Universe Inc., said during an appearance Thursday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”

Why did the Academy give Will Smith the Oscar after the slapping incident?

“It’s a live show. It’s global. In their bylaws, in their rules, they could have actually done that. They could have actually escorted him right out of the building. The Academy has escorted people out during the live telecast in years past for far less than what Will Smith did in front of the world,” Neal said.

In related news, Packer told ABC News that Rock was faced with the decision to press charges the moment he walked off the Oscars stage.

“They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment,” Packer said Thursday night in an interview on “Good Morning America.” 

“They said, ‘We will go get him. We are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges, we can arrest him.’ They were laying out the options.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.