O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star, broadcaster and actor whose athletic achievements and fame were tarnished by his 1995 acquittal in the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, has died of cancer. He was 76.
Orenthal James Simpson, better known as O.J. Simpson, was a famous football player in the 1960s and 1970s, extending that fame into a career as an actor and media personality.
In his acting career, he appeared in The Towering Inferno, Capricorn One and all three movies in the spoof cop franchise The Naked Gun, which came out in 1988, 1991 and 1994.
Despite being a famous football athlete, Simpson was best known for being acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife and her friend in one of the most notorious trials in 20th century America.
His ex-wife and her friend were found stabbed to death in Los Angeles in 1994, in a courtyard just outside of O.J.'s house in Los Angeles. He claimed he was waiting for a limousine that time.
He, of course, became a key suspect. While he may have agreed to surrender to the police, before the officers arrived to arrest him, he fled in a white Ford Bronco driven by his former teammate Al Cowlings, who had a gun to his head. Police soon were able to catch up with the car at Simpson's mansion where he was eventually arrested.
His 16-month trial was also televised and named as "the trial of the century".
The case sparked heated debates on fame, wealth, love and hate, gender, the judicial system, the media, domestic violence and racism.
Here's how Reuters summed it up:
"It had everything: a rich celebrity defendant; a Black man accused of killing his white former wife out of jealousy; a woman slain after divorcing a man who had beaten her; a "dream team" of pricy and charismatic defense lawyers; and a huge gaffe by prosecutors."
Prosecutors argued that Simpson killed his ex-wife out of jealousy, and they presented extensive hair, blood and fiber tests connecting Simpson to the murders.
The defense countered that Simpson was framed by racist white police.
A Reuters report said:
"Many Black Americans celebrated his acquittal, seeing Simpson as the victim of bigoted police."
"Many white Americans were appalled by his exoneration."
Alan Dershowitz, one of the prominent criminal defense lawyers who represented Simpson in court, said that Simpson "played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America. His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent."
Simpson was eventually acquitted over the murders.
In May 2023, Simpson said he had been diagnosed with cancer and confidently expressed he would beat it. In February 2024, Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter publicly announced that Simpson was undergoing chemotherapy for prostate cancer. About more than a week prior to his death, Simpson cancelled a memorabilia signing as he wasn't feeling well. In the last days before his death, all of his children visited him.
The family announced via X (Twitter) that O.J. Simpson has died of cancer on Thursday, April 10 in his residence in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/11/us/oj-simpson-dies/index.html
https://www.ktvu.com/news/oj-simpson-dies-age-76
