OJ Simpson thinks Will Smith's slap was 'wrong' and everyone said the same thing

Everyone has had something to say about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars – everyone, it seems, including OJ Simpson.

Yes, the OJ Simpson has waded into the debate around the bizarre events of Sunday night, much to the ire of social media users.

As everyone on the planet is probably aware by now, Smith stepped onto the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and proceeded to hit comedian Rock following a joke he’d made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

“Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me,” Rock said at the time, before Smith shouted: “Keep my wife's name, out of your f***ing mouth."

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The internet went into overdrive in seconds, with memes, jokes and reactions being shared to every corner of the web.

Now, Simpson has deemed it a good time to get involved in the discourse.

Simpson had made headlines after he was controversially acquitted for a murder trial that he had faced for the 1994 killings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The murder trial was labelled as “the trial of the century” and had sparked massive debates on racial and criminal justice across the country.

Simpson was later given a nine-to-33-year sentence in 2008, just 13 years after being acquitted. He was arrested in Las Vegas on charges of assault, kidnapping, and armed burglary after attempting to steal pieces of his own sports memorabilia from a hotel room.

Simpson was then discharged from prison in October 2017 after a vote by the parole board having served nine years of his 33-year sentence.

Following the events on Sunday, Simpson posted a video on Twitter saying that Smith was “wrong” for hitting Rock but that he “understood the feeling” of wanting to slap a comedian.

Even Simpson has an opinion on the events of Sunday nightGetty

“It was unfortunate… I think Will was wrong. Look, I understood the feeling. In my life, I’ve been through a lot of crap, and I was raising two young kids, and every comedian in the country had an OJ routine, and don’t think I wouldn’t wanna slap a couple of those guys....But it’s humour. I didn’t think [the joke] was all that egregious,” he said.

He then compared the incident to his conviction in 2008.

Simpson said: “I know this: After what happened to me in Las Vegas, if I would have done that in front of a million people watching around the world, they would’ve given me life without. I’m just sayin’.”

Social media users had one or two things to say about the comments.

One wrote: “‘If I did what Will Smith did, I would’ve gotten life in prison,’ OJ Simpson said without a single hint of irony.”

Another added: “Now who in the absolute f*** asked OJ Simpson for his take on this situation??????”

“Do you know what kind of audacity it takes to be OJ Simpson on twitter casual as hell giving commentary on every random thing?” another said.

Smith said sorry following the incident, which came after Rock made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s shaven head which is a result of alopecia.

“I was out of line and I was wrong,” Smith said, in an apology addressed specifically to Rock and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In his message, the King Richard star said he understood that jokes were part of his life as a public figure, and that “violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive”.