Smith stunned fans around the globe when he smacked Rock during the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday night After Chris Rock made a joke about his wife Jada- Pinkett’s battle with alopecia. The acclaimed actor walked onto the stage and slapped him.
Many have had their say on the incident and O.J. Simpson is the latest celebrity to weigh in on Will Smith.
O.J. Simpson is a former football star who was acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995, Simpson took to Twitter in support of Smith. The 74-year-old posted a clip sharing his opinion on the incident which has been the talk of the town.
“Look, I understood the feeling,” the legendary NFL said, “In my life, I’ve been through a lot of crap when I was raising two young kids and every comedian in the country had an O.J. routine, and don’t think I wouldn’t want to [b**ch] slap a couple of them, but you got to accept that it’s human,” he added.
“He was wrong but I understand the sentiment,” OJ continued in the clip. “‘But you’ve got to accept that that’s human, I didn’t even think that was all that egregious… it was a semi-unfunny joke.” Smith went on to win an Oscar for best actor for his role in King Richard, a biopic on the life of Richard Williams and how he coached Serena and Venus Williams to tennis superstardom.
Simpson, also said in this video that if he had done what Smith did, he’d be in prison. “If I would have done that in front of a billion people watching around the world, they would have given me life without [parole], I’m just saying,” he said
He was wrong but I understand the sentiment. pic.twitter.com/aURe1pyubg
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) March 29, 2022
Many believe that O.J. Simpson got away with the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. In 1994, he was acquitted for the murders. However, he was later found liable for their deaths in a civil case in California ordering him to pay $33.5 million to the families of the victims.
Years later, he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas while trying to regain what he claimed was memorabilia that belonged to him. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison. He was released on parole on October 1, 2017.
“Mr. Simpson is a completely free man now,” his lawyer said at the time.
Sources: Dailywire, Nypost, Newsweek