OJ Simpson Has Died at the Age of 76

11 season NFL veteran, Hall of Famer, MVP, Heisman Trophy winner, actor, and accused double homicide acquittee, Orenthial James “OJ” Simpson, has died at the age of 76. 

Second on the NFL’s all time rushers, gaining 11,236 yards, running back OJ Simpson gained fame through his illustrious football career with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. Simpson was a 6 time Pro-Bowler and is the only player to ever achieve rushing 2000 yards in a 14 game season. OJ, iconically known as “Juice” or “The Juice” by his fans, gained significant recognition through these infamous titles, making  him a household name during his football career. OJ began acting 1977, but this small side-gig became more prevalent in his career after Simpson retired in 1979 where he starred in famous movies such as The Naked Gun and the beloved comedy show Saturday Night Live. Additionally, Simpson was an NFL analyst for ABC’s Monday Night Football. He was even considered for the lead role in Terminator, but was seen by directors as “too nice.” 

However, what Simpson may be most notorious for is his 1994 police chase in his 1993 white Ford Bronco following an investigation about the death of his wife, Nicole Brown and her friend, Ron Goldman. On June 13, 1994, Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were both found brutally stabbed to death outside Nicole’s house. According to Los Angeles Police, the only suspect of interest was OJ. After the police had found plausible evidence for his arrest, OJ’s lawyers told police that Juice would turn himself in at 11:00am on June 17. At 11:00 am there was no sign of OJ, starting a police chase where OJ’s teammate Al Cowling was taken hostage by OJ who was armed with a pistol. The 45 minute chase was broadcasted to every major live TV channel with over 93 million viewers, including people getting out of their cars to watch the chase unfold. People began to make signs that read “Save The Juice.” Ultimately, Simpson was captured and taken into custody just before 9:00 pm.

Simpson was known to have the “Dream Team” of lawyers including notable figures such as Robert Kardashian, the father of Kim Kardashian, and Alan Dershowitz, one of Donald Trump’s defense lawyers during his impeachment. During the trial it was found that police officers had wrongfully labeled photo evidence in addition to the improper storing of DNA evidence. Another interesting point of evidence was the presence of both victims' blood inside of OJ’s car, Nicole’s hair and blood on OJ’s socks, and blood of both the victims on OJ’s famous black leather gloves. To counter this claim OJ’s defense claimed that the gloves were not OJ’s since they could not fit OJ’s hands. This moment led to the famous closing line of OJ’s Lawyers  testimony: “if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” When the prosecution asked OJ to try the gloves on, he struggled, but they did not seem to fit his hands. The prosecutors also argued that the gloves may have shrunk after in contact with the blood in addition to being repeatedly frozen and thawed before the trial. Even on top of that the prosecution questioned whether OJ was taking his arthritis medication, which if not taken would cause his hands to swell. Another key piece of evidence was found out that the crime scene had been contaminated from the responding officer, Mark Fuhrman.

With all of the evidence, the ending verdict was decided by a jury to be “not guilty” for both deaths. OJ had been successfully acquitted with over 100 million people watching the ending unfold live. 

Simpson later published a book along with his ghost titled “If I Did It” which talked about how OJ would hypothetically commit the murders of Nicole and Ron. Simpson immediately canceled the release of the book, but it was still leaked to the public. The book was eventually given the rights to the Goldman Family where they changed the title to “If I Did It, Confessions of the Killer” with the “If” was in extremely small font so the title appears to be just “I Did It, Confessions of the Killer.”

After a long and terrible battle with prostate cancer, OJ Simpson died surrounded by family. Interestingly, in the days leading up to his death, OJ made all of his family members sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and did not allow the use of phones or devices in his hospital room. Could he have told his true confession? 

Jack Francini