Chris Rock received mixed support and criticism after being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars following his joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
But Rock’s sympathy train is coming to a stop after his recent joke about another woman, who isn’t even alive. The Spiral star came under fire this week after referencing OJ Simpson’s murdered ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, to explain why he won’t be hosting the Academy Awards anytime soon.
Fox News reports that during Rock’s comedy show on Sunday, he likened his return to the Oscars after being slapped to asking Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she left her eyeglasses before she was killed.
In response, Brown Simpson’s sister, Tanya Brown, took to Instagram to blast Rock for making her deceased sister the butt of his latest insensitive joke.
“Nothing Is more lovely then to wake up on a Tuesday morning (Not) with TMZ calling you saying Chris Rock made a horrible “joke” about Nicole. BEYOND distasteful!” Tanya wrote on Instagram.
Tanya raised attention around Rock’s instances of seemingly targeting women in his jokes.
“Nothing funny about his joke towards Jada as she suffers from a physical condition and nothing funny about equating an Oscar host invitation to a double homicide,” Tanya said.
“I always thought he was funny, but he crossed the line with this one. In other words, Y’all!!!! Stop using my sister, OJ and Ron part of your cricking comedy act. There are families behind this tragedy!”
Nicole Simpson Brown and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death in June 1997 at her home in Brentwood, California. Brown’s husband and former NFL star OJ Simpson was charged with the double homicide but later acquitted in a highly publicized trial.
Rock has been a trending topic after he was slapped by Smith at the Academy Awards in March. Smith was upset and offended by Rock’s “G.I. Jane” joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s, hair.
The Matrix Resurrection actress suffers from alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. She was visibly offended by Rock’s joke, and in response, Smith stepped on stage to remind Rock why he needed to “keep my wife’s name out your fu*king mouth.”
Smith has since apologized for the physical attack, and Rock has received sympathy. But his latest joke only reminds people why he got slapped in the first place.