OJ Simpson, the former US football star famously acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, has died of cancer aged 76, his family said in a statement on Thursday.
It’s been reported he died in Las Vegas, and had been receiving chemotherapy treatment for prostate cancer.
A controversial figure, Simpson was charged with the stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in 1994.
Five days after their deaths, Simpson fled police in his white Ford Bronco in a low-speed police chase through Los Angeles. His ensuing months-long trial as a suspected murderer was dubbed the ‘trial of the century’ and made international headlines.
His acquittal of the murders in 1995 drew divisive criticism throughout America as some people believed justice hadn’t been served, while others thought Simpson was unfairly targeted by a racist police force.
In a separate civil trial in 1997, a jury found Simpson liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5m to the family members of Brown and Goldman.
In 2008, Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison for kidnapping and armed robbery after breaking into a Las Vegas hotel room in an attempt to take sports memorabilia. He was released from prison in 2017.
“Failing battered women”
American Attorney Gloria Allred, who is known for representing Nicole Brown Simpson’s family in the trial that ended with OJ Simpson’s acquittal, spoke out following news of Simpson’s death to remind people to “remember the victims”.
In a statement, Allred said she felt that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson as well as other women who’ve been subjected to violence.
“Simpson’s death reminds us that the legal system even 30 years later is still failing battered women, and that the power of celebrity men to avoid true justice for the harm that they inflict on their wives or significant others is still a major obstacle to the right of women to be free of the gender violence to which they are still subjected.”
Gloria Allred, who repped Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the OJ trial, tells me in a statement the system failed Nicole.
“OJ Simpson is dead. May his victims finally rest in peace,” Allred says. “The truth about OJ Simpson can never be erased & should never be forgotten.”… pic.twitter.com/JYGSIXdmvH— Elizabeth Wagmeister (@EWagmeister) April 11, 2024
Upon news of Simpson’s death, Lifetime announced that they are set to air a documentary centred around Brown Simpson later this year. It’s been reported that Brown Simpson’s family and friends are participating in the project, which is timed to air around the 30th anniversary of her death this summer.
Her documentary has been in the works long before OJ Simpson’s recent death.
There’s been a wave of public reaction following news of his passing, much of it negative.
Caitlyn Jenner, who was a part of OJ Simpson’s social circle, simply tweeted: “Good riddance.”
The father of Goldman told NBC News that OJ Simpson’s death was “no great loss to the world” and just a further reminder of the deaths of Ron and Nicole.
“This is just a reminder for us of how long Ron has been gone, how long we have missed him and nothing more than that,” he said. “That is the only thing that is important today. It is the pain from then until now. There is nothing today that is more important than the loss of my son and the loss of Nicole. Nothing is more important than that.”