Chris Rock made a tasteless comment when he compared his Oscar-hosting situation with the late Nicole Brown Simpson case. Rock was at the receiving end of Will Smith’s infamous Oscar slap that landed the latter a decade-long ban from the Academy. So when Rock was asked to host the 2023 Awards, it was clearly too soon, and Rock’s reply analogy turned out to be a little controversial.
During one of his standup specials, Rock shared that the Academy offered him the Oscars host role the very next year after the Slap. He shared that asking him to host was just like asking Nicole Brown Simpson to revisit the evidence against O.J. Simpson.
Chris Rock’s Tasteless Joke About Nicole Brown Simpson Landed Him In Trouble
Chris Rock had a rather unceremonious Oscar night in 2022, after his altercation with Best Actor winner Will Smith. Rock made a few jokes about the King Richard actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her rare condition of alopecia. Smith got angry at the comments and charged onto the stage to slap the comedian across his face.
Rock would not let this event elude his memory so easily. The Academy might have wanted to make things right with the Grown Ups actor and offered him the hosting gig once again in 2023. But Rock turned down the gig and later talked about the offer during one of his standup shows in Phoenix in August 2022. However, the comments did not gain him the same sympathy that he received after the slap.
Rock compared his situation to one of the biggest crimes in American history, i.e., the 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. According to the LA Times, Rock shared at his special that the offer coming to him was “like asking Nicole Brown Simpson ‘to go back to the restaurant’ where she left her eyeglasses before being killed.”
Of course, his comments did not sit well with the audience. Chris Rock received significant backlash for bringing Simpson into the issue, and his comments were deemed tasteless, misogynistic, and completely unnecessary. Several long-time followers of the comedian, however, pointed out that he had made jokes about Simpson’s death way before these comments.
Will Smith Faced Consequences for Slapping Chris Rock and Made An Apology
In the aftermath of the Slap, the Academy launched an investigation into the altercation between the Emancipation actor and the Madagascar voice actor. Despite winning the Best Actor Oscar that year, Will Smith was banned from attending the Academy Awards ceremony for a decade. Before that, Smith gave up his membership in the Academy.
He made a public apology to Rock, sharing that he was embarrassed by his actions. He added that violence no longer had a place in his world of love and kindness. The I Am Legend actor shared in a formal statement (via Instagram):
“I would like to publically apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
With Rock turning down the hosting gig, the 95th Academy Awards was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the third time. He also went on to host it a fourth time this year at the 96th Academy Awards.
