Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister is not pleased with Kim Kardashian’s jokes about the O.J. Simpson trial. The SKIMS founder, 40, hosted the October 9 episode of Saturday Night Live and cracked jokes about a number of topics, including O.J.’s 1995 murder trial. Nicole’s sister Tanya Brown has since slammed the jokes as “distasteful.”
In her opening monologue, Kim joked that her late father, defense attorney Robert Kardashian, introduced her to her first Black person. “Want to take a stab in the dark at who it was?” she quipped, referencing O.J., whom her father represented during the murder trial of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. “It’s sort of weird to remember the first Black person you met, but O.J does leave a mark,” Kim continued. “Or several. Or none at all. I still don’t know!”
Tanya, a motivational speaker and author, told TMZ on October 12 that the jokes were “beyond inappropriate and insensitive,” calling the jokes made at her late sister’s expense in “poor taste.” She said it was shocking to hear the audience erupt in laughter over the material, adding that Kim should have “pushed back” on the jokes given that her mother Kris Jenner — who appeared in various sketches throughout the evening — had such a close friendship with Nicole.
During the episode, another joke about O.J. — who was charged in connection to the fatal stabbing of his ex-wife in 1994 but acquitted of criminal charges the following year — appeared in a separate sketch, “The People’s Kourt,” in which Kim spoofed her sister Kourtney Kardashian in a courtroom setting. Kenan Thompson portrayed the former athlete in the sketch.
“Hey Kourtney, it’s me, O.J. Simpson,” the comedian said. “You know, ‘The Juice.’ I’m your dad’s old friend. How come y’all don’t invite me to anything anymore?” The sketch also featured parodies of Kim’s soon-to-be ex-husband Kanye West, Kourtney’s musician boyfriend Travis Barker, and Kourtney’s “bailiffs and best friends” Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly.
The controversy comes after a source previously told HollywoodLife that no jokes would be off the table ahead of Kim’s debut. “One thing she has done and to put the cast at ease is that she has told them that any idea is a good idea and they can absolutely present her anything,” the source said. “She is willing to make fun of herself and has mentioned that nothing is off-limits.”