Chris Rock Faces Backlash Over Oscars Joke Involving Nicole Brown Simpson

Chris Rock is in hot water for comparing a return to the Oscars stage with the late Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder.

According to AZCentral, during his stand-up show on Sunday at Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix, Chris revealed that he was invited to host next year, but declined.

Rock said he felt that if he hosted, it would be like returning to the scene of a crime after being slapped by Will Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards. The slap happened after Chris made a joke about Will’s wife Jada.

During his stand up performance on Sunday, Rock referenced the murder of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole. In 1994, Simpson left her sunglasses at an Italian restaurant. Waiter Ron Goldman later came to her house to return the sunglasses, but they were gruesomely murdered at her Brentwood, California, home. While O.J. was charged with the murders, he was acquitted.

According to Rock, if he returned the Oscars as a host next year, it would be like asking Nicole “to go back to the restaurant.”

Twitter lit up with users slamming the comedian for joking about Simpson’s murder.

One user wrote, “Another woman serving as foils for #ChrisRock’s ‘jokes.’ Dear #WillSmith, all is forgiven.”

Another wrote, “How to go from Yay to Nay..it will never be appropriate to joke about Nicole Brown Simpson.”

The comments kept coming, including this one, “This is just cruel. Thoughtless. Not funny. People will start thinking; ‘well hell maybe Will should have slapped him.’ Smh. Do better #ChrisRock”

In late July, Will publicly apologized to Chris in a YouTube video.

In the video, text appears on the screen that says, “It’s been a minute… Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and personal work… You asked a lot of fair questions that I wanted to take some time to answer.”

Will then sits down on camera and reads the question, “Why didn’t you apologize to Chris in your acceptance speech?”

In response, he explains, “I was fogged out by that point. It's all fuzzy.”

He adds that he has reached out to Chris, but says that Rock is “not ready to talk.”

Will then takes the opportunity to publicly apologize to Chris, Chris’ mother, and his family.

“So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk.”

At one point he also addressed letting people down, saying, “Disappointing people is my central trauma. I hate when I let people down. So it, it hurts, it hurts me psychologically and emotionally to know I didn't live up to people's image and impression of me. And the work I'm trying to do is, I am deeply remorseful, and I'm trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself.”

He went on, “Right? I'm human. And I made a mistake and I'm trying not to think of myself as a piece of sh*t. So I would say to those people, I know it was confusing, I know it was shocking. But I promise you, I am deeply devoted and committed to putting light and love and joy into the world. And, you know, if you hang on, I promise we'll be able to be friends again.”

Chris seemed to react to the apology shortly afterward while in Atlanta for his Chris Rock Ego Death world tour.

According to CNN, he told the crowd, "Everybody is trying to be a f**king victim," a clear swipe at Smith's video. "If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims."

He went on to joke, "Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith... I went to work the next day. I got kids."