O.J. Simpson Chimes In On Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock: 'I Understood The Feeling'
Just about everyone in the world has given their take on the Will Smith-Chris Rock incident at the Academy Awards Sunday night, including O.J. Simpson.
"The Juice" took to Twitter Tuesday to share his thoughts on Smith open-hand smacking fellow actor Rock across the face onstage.
"Look, I understood the feeling. In my life, I've been through a lot of crap," Simpson said. "I was raising two young kids and every comedian in the country had O.J. routines and don't think I wouldn't want to B-slap a couple of those guys, but you’ve got to accept it’s human."
Simpson, 74, is known to many as an NFL Hall of Fame running back, but also as an acquitted murder defendant and convicted armed robber. Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in a Las Vegas prison for his role in robbing two sports memorabilia collectors at gunpoint in 2007. He was released from prison in October 2017 after serving nine years.
Since his release, Simpson has been active on Twitter, often providing fantasy football takes and discussing topics relating to the NFL. So when the NFL adopted new postseason overtime rules Tuesday, Simpson assumed that fans would be asking him for his take on the change. He was surprised to hear that everyone was asking instead for his opinion on the drama at the Oscars.
He went on to say that he didn't believe that the joke that triggered Smith was "that egregious." Rock compared Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, to Demi Moore’s bald character in the movie G.I. Jane. Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia and shaved her head last summer.
"I didn't think it was all that egregious," Simpson said. "I thought it was a semi-unfunny joke, but I don't know. I don't get it. I know this, after what happened to me in Las Vegas if I would have done that in front of a billion people watching around the world they would have given me life without. I'm just saying."
Follow Nick Geddes on Twitter @NickGeddesNews and on Instagram @nick.geddes.