OJ Simpson weighs in on the Will Smith Oscar’s slap and compares it to his own crimes

Published 14:59 30 Mar 2022 BST

Updated 15:01 30 Mar 2022 BST

Danny Jones

OJ Simpson weighs in on the Will Smith Oscar’s slap and compares it to his own crimes

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'The Juice' said things would be different if it was him

OJ Simpson, the man world-famous for standing trial accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, has weighed in on Will Smith's Oscar's altercation with Chris Rock and compared it with one of his own brushes with the law. The 74-year-old retired athlete turned actor posted a message on Twitter after he was flooded with questions from people who wanted to know what "The Juice" made of the situation. Simpson said simply that while he thinks "Will was wrong" he "understood the feeling". https://twitter.com/TheRealOJ32/status/1508915293111963648?s=20&t=tCNq1DfTX_Ewg69KjjIfBQ The former NFL star went on to say that he didn't feel Chris Rock's G.I. Jane gag at the Oscars was all that "egregious", declaring it nothing more than a "semi-unfunny joke". Smith slapped Rock after the comedian made light of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, for having no hair. She has alopecia. Simpson was the butt of many comedians' jokes both during and after "the case of the century" when he was acquitted of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Simpson went on to compare Smith's situation to his own in Las Vegas, when more than a decade after he was acquitted of murder, he was part of an armed robbery and kidnapping conspiracy and went on to serve a nine-year prison sentence. Citing what "[he] went through in Vegas", he remarked: "If I would have done that in front a billion people watching around the world, they would have given me life without [parole], I'm just saying." While Smith, 53, has since apologised for his actions, stating that "violence is poisonous", the entertainment world and general public at large haven't stopped debating about whether he should be punished, with many calling for his award for Best Actor to be taken away.