Topline
Actor and Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson, whose acquittal on murder charges in the so-called trial of the century tarnished his reputation, died of cancer on Wednesday, his family announced Thursday morning, while an attorney representing the family of one of the two people Simpson was accused of killing claimed Simpson “died without penance.”
O.J. Simpson, whose murder trial besmirched his career as an actor and NFL running back, died on ... [+]
Key Facts
Simpson’s family announced the 76-year-old’s death in a post on the former Buffalo Bills running back’s X page, saying Simpson “succumbed to his battle with cancer” Wednesday, and was “surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”
Simpson, whose full name is Orenthal James Simpson, had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer, multiple outlets reported in February, amid speculation the former NFL MVP was in hospice care.
Simpson denied the hospice rumors, posting a video on Feb. 9, saying: “No, I’m not in any hospice, I don’t know who put that out there”—and two days later said his “health is good,” while admitting he was “dealing with some issues.”
David Cook, an attorney representing the family of Ron Goldman—one of the two people Simpson was accused of killing before his 1995 acquittal—told multiple outlets that Simpson “died without penance” (Forbes reached out to Cook for comment).
Caitlyn Jenner—who was previously married to Kris Kardashian, the widow of Simpson’s defense attorney Robert Kardashian—posted: “Good Riddance.”
Key Background
Before turning to acting, Simpson garnered a reputation as one of the NFL’s greatest running backs. He rushed for over 11,200 total yards in his 11-year career, earning the MVP award in 1973, and led the league in rushing yards in four out of five seasons between 1972 and 1977 with the Bills. Simpson, who earned college football’s coveted Heisman Trophy with the University of Southern California in 1968, ended his career in his home town of San Francisco, playing for the 49ers from 1978 to 1979, and was inducted in 1985 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After retiring from football, Simpson went on to co-star in a slate of comedies and thrillers, including three “Naked Gun” movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His acting career, however, was sidelined in 1994, when he was named a person of interest in the killing of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, leading police on a low-speed and highly watched chase through Los Angeles in an infamous Ford Bronco. Simpson surrendered to police and was charged with first-degree murder for his ex-wife and Goldman’s deaths, after officials discovered a pair of bloody gloves on his property. He was acquitted on those murder charges, though his legal woes continued to mount. In 1997, he was found liable in a separate wrongful death civil case filed by Goldman’s family, and ordered to pay victims’ families a sum of $33.5 million. In 2008, he was sentenced to 33 years in a Nevada prison on separate armed robbery charges, though he was released on parole nine years later on good behavior. He was discharged from parole in December 2021, months ahead of schedule, once again on good behavior, making him a “completely free man,” his attorney Malcolm LaVergne told the Associated Press at the time.
Contra
Despite his acquittal on murder charges, Simpson has faced heavy public backlash over the belief he did, in fact, take part in the murder of his ex-wife and Goldman. In 2007, Simpson contributed to the speculation himself with the publication of his co-authored book: “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” which discussed how Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson could have been killed—even as Simpson continued to deny his guilt. The release of that book, co-authored with Pablo Fenjves, was initially canceled amid controversy over its contents, though a modified version was eventually published after Goldman’s family was awarded the rights to the book. Simpson’s former manager Norman Pardo, however, rejected the belief that Simpson wrote the book, telling the Huffington Post in 2014 it was the work of a ghostwriter, and that Simpson had agreed to claim he was an author in return for $600,000.
Further Reading
