OJ Simpson ridiculed after stockpiling toilet paper and water amid coronavirus outbreak

Simpson has shared a photo of himself shopping for groceries on Twitter

OJ Simpson during his parole hearing on 20 July 2017 in Lovelock, Nevada. (Jason Bean-Pool/Getty Images)

OJ Simpson is facing ridicule after sharing a photo of himself stockpiling toilet paper and water amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The 72-year-old posted a photo of himself with the groceries on Twitter on Friday.

He’s seen in the image wearing a face mask that covers his mouth and nose, pushing a cart piled with rolls of toilet paper, plastic water bottles and paper cups.

“Coronavirus? Who’s afraid?” Simpson wrote in the caption.

Twitter users have mocked the image, questioning Simpson’s response to the outbreak or referencing the 1995 trial that saw him charged with, and acquitted of, the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Simpson was acquitted in the criminal case. A civil court jury later found him liable and he was ordered to pay $33.5m to the victims’ families.

One Twitter user told Simpson in response to his photo: "Should probably get some properly-fitting gloves, too" – an apparent reference to the infamous ill-fitting glove introduced as evidence in the criminal trial.

Someone else suggested that Simpson was, in fact, afraid of the virus, "else you wouldn’t be hoarding and wearing a mask".

Another person thought Simpson’s choice of supplies was more reminiscent of a snowstorm than a virus outbreak.

"What’s he gonna do with so much toilet paper?! And leave the masks for and people who are ill and those caring for them, please," someone else tweeted.

Another Twitter user said they were “actually rooting for the coronavirus here”.

Simpson is currently living at a golf community in Las Vegas after serving nine years in state prison over a robbery and kidnapping conviction.

The CDC does not recommend the use of face masks except for medical professionals. In order to limit the spread of the virus, members of the public are advised to avoid touching their face and nose, cough and sneeze in tissues, wash their hands frequently and thoroughly, and stay at home if they are sick.