NBC's Bob Costas Remembers Visiting O.J. Simpson in Jail and O.J. Making an Awkward Joke About the Murders

During a visit to 'The TODAY Show,' the legendary broadcaster also remembered a call from the former NFL star during his infamous Bronco car case in June 1994

Even behind bars, O.J. Simpson was making odd jokes about the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, his former colleague, Bob Costas says.

Speaking about the death of the former NFL legend on The TODAY Show on April 12, Costas said he visited Simpson in prison in November 1994, before the onset of his murder trial, along with attorney Robert Kardashian and Simpson’s longtime friend, Al Cowlings. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife Brown Simpson and waiter Goldman.

The legendary broadcaster who once worked with Simpson at NBC Sports said when he and Simpson each put their hands onto the glass partition dividing them, Simpson noticed that Costas had a cut on his hand.

This led to an uncomfortable moment, Costas recalled.

“When I put [my hand] up there, and he saw the bandage and a little drop of blood, he said, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute. You did it,’” he said on TODAY.

Related: Justice For Nicole Brown Simpson — Read PEOPLE's Feb. 8, 2016 Cover Story

Simpson denied this version of the story, Costas said. But Costas said he will always remember it as very odd.

“I just thought in that moment, it was an attempt at an awkward situation to lighten the mood, if that was possible,” he said on the show. “I didn’t read anything more into it than that, but it was a little weird.”

Related: O.J. Simpson Dead at 76 From Cancer, Family Announces

In 1995, Simpson was famously and controversially acquitted of murder in Goldman and Brown Simpson's deaths.

On April 11, 2024, Simpson’s family announced on X (formerly Twitter,) that the Hall of Fame football player, legendary broadcaster and convicted felon died at 76 on April 10 following a cancer diagnosis.

During his interview on TODAY, Costas also said that he asked Simpson why he called him during the infamous Bronco chase.

Related: The Story of O.J. Simpson’s Controversial Book, If I Did It, And Why It Was Canceled And Later Released

“I asked O.J., ‘What would make you think in that moment that you’d want to speak with me?’ And he said, ‘I was being defamed by the media,' not so much about the allegations, which were then fresh about the allegations of the crime, but that his overall character and the life he had led was being defamed,” Costas recalled.

“And somehow he thought that someone who was his friend, as well as his colleague, could perhaps, in effect, act as a character witness," Costas added. "And what I didn’t bother to tell him, since it was a moot point, was that if he had gotten through to me and if he had agreed to go on the air, then I would’ve had to ask him some very pointed questions.”

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