It was the slap heard round the world when Will Smith hit Chris Rock at the Oscars after the latter made a joke about the former’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. And apparently, as pointed out by John Oliver on last night’s (April 3) episode of Last Week Tonight, the world seems to still include none other than O.J. Simpson.
“At the Oscars, this happened,” Oliver began towards the top of the show, bringing up the infamous picture of Smith smacking Rock. “A moment that has spawned thousands of terrible takes, with this one maybe being maybe the one we needed the least.”
At that, Oliver cut to footage of O.J. Simpson, former sports star and acquitted murderer, talking to camera about the slap while jaunty music plays in the background.
“The question I’ve been getting is Will Smith and Chris Rock,” Simpson says. “Hey, look, it was unfortunate. I think Will was wrong. Look, I understood the feeling.”
In case your eyes bugged out of your head at that, you’re not alone. First: whomst among us is asking O.J. Simpson to weigh in on the Chris Rock/Will Smith slap? Was literally nobody else available? Second: is he comparing… whatever happened on the Oscars stage to, uh, going on trial for murdering your wife?
Also feeling extremely “yikes” about the whole thing? Oliver, who shut it down immediately.
“Nope,” Oliver said. “Not you, O.J. Not you. No one wants to hear from you on this. Especially when you seem to be coming live from the COVID patio of a Sēnor Frog’s. You can just sit this one out. Think of this situation like a rowdy bachelorette ordering a mimosa. We want as little juice involved here as humanly possible.”
You can watch the full clip in the show, which is currently streaming on HBO Max. And fingers crossed this little exchange doesn’t lead to If I Did It 2: The Slap, where O.J. puts himself in Will Smith’s shoes. Or gloves, if you will. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
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