Ricky Gervais Posts 'The Office' Alopecia Joke After Will Smith-Chris Rock Slap

Ricky Gervais couldn't stop himself from joining the Will Smith-Chris Rock Oscars drama, and seemingly backing Chris ... tweeting a clip from "The Office" that pokes fun at alopecia.

Gervais retweeted the clip Monday from his David Brent account -- his character on the OG British version of the show -- and it shows David trying to win over his employees by taking them out for drinks at lunchtime.

Ricky's full line in the scene shows him joking about Alcoholics Anonymous, saying "I know someone who is an alcoholic and it is no laughing matter - particularly for his wife. And, she's got alopecia. So ... not a happy home life."

Now, it's not like Ricky captioned it with anything about the Oscars, but it's clearly the only relevance ... coming the day after Rock dropped his "G.I. Jane 2" quip at Jada Pinkett Smith -- who as you know has alopecia -- and, thereby, triggering Will's now-infamous slap.

Jada had announced last year she shaved her head after being diagnosed with alopecia. As TMZ reported ... Rock did not know she has the condition.

It's interesting that Ricky's sounding off about the incident -- he's hosted the Golden Globes 5 times, and always roasted celebrities left and right ... yet no one ever laid a hand on him.