O.J. Simpson says he understands what Will Smith was feeling when he violently lashed out against Chris Rock — but he thinks the “Concussion” actor went too far.
The 74-year-old former football star said on Twitter Tuesday that he’s been asked about Smith smacking Rock on stage at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony after the Oscar winning actor took exception to a joke Rock made about Smith’s wife. Smith has since apologized.
“It’s unfortunate,” Simpson said. “I think Will was wrong.”
Simpson — who was put on trial for the 1994 murder of his wife and her friend — said he was speaking from a location on the East Coast, where he’d inadvertently gotten caught up in spring break revelry. He was acquitted in that trial but has since been dogged by the court of public opinion. As such, he said he knows what it’s like to be the butt of jokes as Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith were Sunday.
“I understand the feeling,” Simpson said. “In my life, I’ve been through a lot of crap. When I was raising three young kids every comedian in the country had an O.J. routine. 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 said he didn’t even think Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair was “all that egregious,” nor did he find it funny. However, Simpson, who was sentenced to nine years in a Nevada prison on robbery charges exactly 13 years after being acquitted of murder, thinks Smith is getting off easy.
“I know this,” Simpson said. “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 (parole). I’m just saying.”
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