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OJ Simpson’s co-star shares secrets & says ‘we’ll never know if he was a killer but trial made him a magnet for women’
OJ Simpson's last movie appearance came in the 2004 short, The Lemon Twist
THE creator of OJ Simpson's final movie says he never believed the polarizing football star-turned-actor was capable of murder but now we'll never know for certain following his shock cancer death.
Simpson, 76, died at his home in Las Vegas on Wednesday following a short battle with prostate cancer.
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A once beloved NFL superstar, Simpson's on-field accolades were irrevocably marred after he was arrested for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, who were found stabbed to death at Brown's home in June 1994.
Simpson denied any wrongdoing and was later controversially acquitted of the killings in a tumultuous months-long court case the following year which is commonly referred to today as the "Trial of the Century."
Despite avoiding jail time, a separate civil trial jury found Simpson liable for the pair's deaths in 1997 and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to Brown and Goldman's families.
Simpson – known otherwise as The Juice – struggled in the years after his acquittal with his once-fledging career in Hollywood grinding to a screeching halt.
It was a chance encounter with actor and producer Arthur Bernstein at a basketball game in 2003 that saw OJ return to the big screen after a 10-year hiatus.
Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, Bernstein said Simpson mistakenly sat in one of his seats at the Orange Bowl Classic, in Miami, and the pair struck up a conversation.
An usher asked Bernstein if he wanted to "kick The Juice out" but he told him to leave Simpson be, and, during the second half of the game, he pitched Simpson an idea for a movie on the fly.
"I started talking to him and I said 'Yo, OJ, I'm thinking about doing a movie. Do you want to be in it?' And he goes, 'Sure, What am I gonna do?" said Bernstein, recounting the conversation.
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"I told him he'd be playing the jealous boyfriend and that he'd be punching me out, and he goes 'Alright.'
"So I had the green light, I took his number and we shot the movie the next year in Miami."
SNL fans remember when Norm Macdonald was fired over O.J. Simpson joke after murder acquittal in 1998
The movie, titled The Lemon Twist, was a five-minute short that debuted in 2004.
In the film, Simpson punches Bernstein's character and warns, "Hey punk! You stay away from my women. Stay away! I better not see your ugly face around here anywhere," before being escorted away.
'I DON'T THINK HE DID IT'
Bernstein struck up a years-long friendship with Simpson after the movie wrapped.
He described the NFL Hall of Famer as a "great guy" who was a pleasure to work with, and who never displayed any propensity for violence.
Bernstein said it's hard for him to reconcile the Simpson he knew and the fallen star who was accused in the grisly murders of Brown and Goldman.
While he says the pair never discussed Simpson's trial, Bernstein says he doesn't believe his late friend was capable of murder.
"I don't know if it did happen, but I hope it never did happen," said Bernstein of Simpson's alleged role in Brown and Goldman's deaths.
"I know the Goldmans have a different view of him and I'm very sorry for their loss, I really am, and I hope to God this guy didn't do what he was accused of doing.
"All I can say is he was very nice to me," he added.
"He was a normal guy who loved his family and his kids. He was great with people. Of course, some people didn't like him because of the situation but he didn't he didn't engage with those people, he just turned the other way or ignored them.
"I just think he was a very protective father who would do whatever he could for his kids.
"I don't know if he's a killer, and I don't think anybody really knows if he is a killer.
"Some suspect it, but we'll never know now because he was never proven guilty."
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'LADY MAGNET'
Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February.
He died on Wednesday surrounded by his children and grandchildren, a family statement said.
Bernstein said he last reached out to Simpson in November when he was visiting Las Vegas but never received a response.
He said he was saddened and shocked by the news of Simpson's passing but has many fond memories of going to nightclubs and attending boxing matches with The Juice in the mid-2000s.
Despite his arrest for murder, Bernstein said Simpson was a prolific ladies' man who would get swarmed by flocks of adoring women during nights on the town.
"He liked women, that was his thing," said Bernstein.
"I never saw any violence or anything like that, or any other negative behavior towards women.
"I would see a lot of women try to go up to him and encroach on him. They flocked to him regardless of the situation at the time.
"You think it would be the opposite but it wasn't they were very aggressive with him sometimes."
There are things that suggest he did do it and there are things that suggest he didn't. I don't think he did it, but that's just me personally.
Arthur Bernstein
Bernstein added that he's saddened he was denied the chance to catch up with his old co-star again before his shock passing.
He said he last spoke to Simpson in late 2019 or early 2020 when The Naked Gun star left him a message, asking him how he'd been and telling him to reach out if he was ever visiting Vegas.
"He told me if I ever go to Vegas to call him, which I did [in November], but I never heard back from him – and now I know why because he was going through what he was going through. I wish I knew," said Bernstein.
"It sucks because the guy was very gregarious and he could hold a conversation with anybody. It could be scary but on the other hand, when you're with him, you feel very welcomed."
When asked to elaborate on what he meant by "scary", Bernstein continued, "People have that perception of, 'Did he do it? Or did he not do it.'
"So that was scary, as was the fact he was one of the greatest football players of all time, and he could run through 300-500lb people and get up and walk away like nothing happened."
Despite Simpson's tarnished legacy, Bernstein said he hopes his friend is remembered for the good – and not only the bad.
"I hope people remember him as one of the greatest running backs of all time. I hope they remember him as a family man, as an actor, and as a sports commentator," he said.
"I hope people don't rush to judgment until they know all the facts, because it's hard to know what did happen, because he wasn't found guilty so it's all just speculation.
"There are things that suggest he did do it and there are things that suggest he didn't.
"I don't think he did it, but that's just me personally."
'NO GREAT LOSS'
Before his death was announced on Thursday, Simpson's health had been the subject of months of speculation.
He was pictured by the Daily Mail in November 2023 looking frail and limping.
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Simpson was photographed the following month using a cane during an outing.
Then, in February, when his cancer diagnosis was made public, Simpson took to X (formerly Twitter) to debunk rumors that he'd been placed in hospice care.
"Hospice?! Hospice?! You talking about Hospice?" Simpson said in a video, parodying a famous rant made by NBA legend Allen Iverson during practice.
"No, I'm not in any hospice. I don't know who put that out there, but whoever put that out there, I guess, it's like the Donald said, 'You can't trust the media.'
"All is well," he added.
News of his death has been received by a mixed reaction on social media.
His one-time close friend, Caitlyn Jenner, wrote a terse two-word tribute on X on Thursday morning that read, "Good Riddance."
I would see a lot of women try to go up to him and encroach on him. They flocked to him regardless of the situation at the time.
Arthur Bernstein
Tom Lange, one of the lead detectives who worked on Simpson's murder case, told TMZ, "I have nothing to say, I simply don't care.
Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, called Simpson's passing "no great loss."
"The only thing I have to say is it's just a further reminder of Ron being gone all these years," he said.
"It's no great loss to the world. It's a further reminder of Ron's being gone."
THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY
Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside of Brown's condo in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 12, 1994.
The pair suffered multiple stab wounds to the head, neck, and body.
Investigators believe Brown fought for her life as she suffered defensive wounds on her hands.
Among the trail of evidence found at the scene was a single bloodied black glove.
Detectives went to Simpson's home to inform him about his ex-wife's murder and found blood splatters on a white Ford Bronco parked in the driveway.
A second black glove was then found on the athlete's property, which was later linked to the one authorities found at the murder scene. The murder weapon was never found.
Simpson was eventually ordered to surrender himself to police but he instead fled in another Bronco, driven by his friend and ex-teammate Al Cowlings, sparking a 60mph car chase that was broadcast across the world.
He was later apprehended at his home after making a call to his mom and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
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Inside OJ Simpson's infamous police car chase
On June 17, 1994, OJ Simpson, seen driving his white Ford Bronco, led a mass of police cars on a 90-minute chase through southern California.
Two days prior, his wife Nicole Brown, 35, and her friend Ron Goldman, 25, were found brutally stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles condo.
After gathering evidence from the scene, including bloody murder gloves, police filed charges against Simpson, and he was scheduled to turn himself in at 11 am on the 17th.
However, he failed to show up at the police station, and officials started looking for him.
Simpson's defense attorney Ben Shapiro gave detectives the address where he had been lying low, but responding officers found that he ran away.
The former NFL superstar was declared a fugitive and a massive search was launched for him and his friend Al Cowlings, who he had run away with.
Hours after the search was launched, Simpson called 911 from his cell phone while driving his white Ford Bronco, allowing police to track down his location.
At around 6 pm local time, the low-speed chase started and continued down the I-5 Freeway in Orange County, California.
The chase was live-streamed by news outlets and horrified viewers across the nation were glued to their television screens to see what happened next.
Domino's Pizza had its best day ever as families were too busy watching to make any dinner.
By 9 pm that same day, Simpson led cops to his Brentwood estate.
After a tense standoff, he turned himself in, and he was taken to the Los Angeles County Jail.
Simpson went to trial on January 24, 1995. The case became a blockbuster and was broadcast on major news networks worldwide.
OJ Simpson assembled a powerhouse legal team for his defense that consisted of lawyers Robert Blasier, Shawn Chapman Holley, Robert Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, and lead attorney Johnnie Cochran.
The prosecution, led by Marcia Clark and Christopher A. Darden, was prepared for trial armed with overwhelming evidence, including the blood-stained glove, shoe prints, hair strands, shirt fibers, and more.
DNA tests also showed that the bloody golf glove found at Simpson's home matched the one left at the crime scene.
Prosecutors also had a record of 62 incidents of abuse involving Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson.
However, as the trial started, Judge Lance Ito made it clear that the police inquiries into the alleged abuse were flawed, and photo evidence was either lost or mislabeled.
And the prosecution's smoking gun, in the DNA evidence, was improperly stored, raising concerns that it may have been tainted.
The trial's most infamous moment came when the prosecution instructed Simpson to try on the bloodied gloves, which he struggled to slip on and appeared to be too small.
His lead attorney Johnnie Cochran famously quipped to the jury during closing arguments, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit."
OUT OF JUICE
After months of testimony, the jury deliberated for just three hours before acquitting Simpson of all counts.
At the start of the trial, Simpson's reported net worth was $11 million, but court records showed he was left with only $3.5 million after his legal proceedings ended.
Simpson was forced to sell a trove of his sports memorabilia to keep afloat, including his prized Heisman Trophy.
Thirteen years after his double-murder trial, Simpson and Clarence Stewart were arrested in 2008 in connection with a gunpoint robbery in Las Vegas.
Simpson and Stewart were accused of robbing sports memorabilia from a dealer, which the former NFL star claimed was stolen from him first.
Simpson was eventually convicted of 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapped and sentenced to 33 years in prison.
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He was granted parole in 2017 after serving nine years.
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