‘Truly tasteless’: Chris Rock criticised for comparing Will Smith slap to Nicole Brown Simpson murder

Chris Rock is under fire for joking about the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson in relation to his altercation with Will Smith at the Oscars earlier this year.

During the Phoenix, Arizona, leg of his stand-up tour over the weekend, Rock revealed that the Academy had approached him to host the Oscars next year, which he declined. The Academy declined to comment when approached by The Independent.

Rock told his audience that returning to the awards ceremony would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant”.

Brown Simpson was murdered after leaving her glasses at a restaurant in 1995. Both she and 25-year-old restaurant waiter Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Her ex-husband, former professional American football player OJ Simpson, was accused of both killings but later acquitted of all charges. In a civil lawsuit in 1997, he was found liable for both deaths and paid $33.5 million in damages to the Goldmans.

After news of Rock’s Oscars refusal was picked up by news outlets, many took issue with his joke about Brown Simpson’s death.

“The more Chris Rock talks, the more you begin to see why Will Smith smacked fire outta him,” one tweet with 16,000 likes read.

“Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered & nearly decapitated. How is that in any way comparable to being slapped?” Writer Franchesca Ramsey asked.

Photojournalist Gregory Anderson suggested that Fred Goldman (Ron’s father) should have the “honour” of slapping Rock next. “Comparing what happened to him to what happened to Nicole Brown Simpson is truly tasteless and not at all funny,” he wrote.

Another commenter pointed out that the joke itself had flawed logic: “The restaurant wasn’t even the scene of the crime. In fact, one could argue that if Nicole went back to the restaurant that night, she and Ron Goldman would’ve lived.”

The Independent has contacted representatives for Rock for comment.

Smith apologised for his actions and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the week following the Oscars. The actor was then relatively silent until July, when he released a Youtube video in which he apologised to Rock and Rock’s family.

Rock has not yet responded to Smith’s apology.