rip oj simpson

really

actually rot in hell

he took up a lot of space in the pop culture conversation

Used to see him at Hillstone/Houston's often in the '00s flirting with the bartenders. He lived in Kendall about 12 miles southwest of me.

May he roast eternally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McS1LCfVXak

https://i.imgur.com/Ch8Tqkd.jpeg

don't trust the media

Hospice??? pic.twitter.com/OXLzs9jWO6

— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) February 9, 2024

If I Died It

On occasion, I sell vintage car ads, sales literature, and related stuff at car shows. It's always a little awkward when somebody asks if I have anything on a '69 Chevy Caprice coupe. "Well, I do...but...uh":

https://s3.amazonaws.com/productimages.goantiques.gemr/45407/7875385_fullsize.jpg

too bad Norm is no longer with us, this would've been his day

here's why this is bad news for Joe Biden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV5UTHVjMME

The guy was a terrible actor too, his acting during the trial was dreadful.

now he will never find the real killer

https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/GettyImages-biden-1229426962-e1617226015414-3.jpeg
https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2012/07/11/bce3d57f-a644-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/640x360/8e6d0510edd8f12354507520e8f5bcc0/51966022.jpg?v=8f9acb0830ce2ef2593f1d92f65cccba

a few years ago my wife and I watched "The People vs. OJ Simpson" - my wife, who is from Mexico, knew nothing of the OJ Simpson trial, but after watching it remarked "so much of American pop culture makes sense now"

America is just one long, slow freeway chase.

My wife texted "we lost OJ", and the autofill suggestions were "uh oh" and "yay!" and ☺️

I was sick and home from school when the murder happened and the arrest, so it was all I could watch those two days, but they played one of the many 911 calls from when OJ was physically assaulting Nicole, and I remember that weirdly being one of the first times in my sheltered life I'd actually been exposed to a real-life example of domestic abuse. the one I remember is the call where she's calling 911 and he's screaming abuse at her in the background.

also, OJ was briefly a host on one of the revivals of To Tell the Truth in the 90s and in one episode he tried on a pregnancy simulator machine that one of the guests had brought on and began describing what it felt like to be pregnant.

should've gotten an Oscar nod for that one

was anyone speculating in the 90s that OJ's bizarre and violent behavior might've been a result of getting hit in the head too many times? its pretty remarkable to revisit some of that footage knowing what we know now - OJ himself never really seemed "all there" when you heard him speak and I actually kinda believe him when he says he blacked out and doesn't really remember what happened. Aaron Hernandez said the same thing.

All those moments practicing the wheelchair scene in Naked Gun didn't help either!

I'm just glad that he can finally rest easy knowing that his wife's killer is dead.

Gonna read this again tonight.

https://evergreenreview.com/read/in-memory-of-nicole-brown-simpson/?fbclid=IwAR03LpiH69JwFWjmQuxtEftz809B0Brj5PnZKUTWTemGaBccHOzkoto--T8_aem_AZqSjC7MBLbxwTJs_JoOQyXCC8mLxviBqPPWzzloKr1S5V7kiTpyVC7pFb5kbp-dAyg

The seven-part doc miniseries was fantastic.

In memory of Nicole Brown Simpson

Remember the video showing Simpson, after the ballet recital, with the Brown family—introduced by the defense to show Simpson’s pleasant demeanor. Hours later, Nicole Simpson was dead. In the video, she is as far from Simpson, physically, as she can manage. He does not nod or gesture to her. He kisses her mother, embraces and kisses her sister, and bear-hugs her father. They all reciprocate. She must have been the loneliest woman in the world. What would Nicole Simpson have had to do to be safe? Go underground, change her appearance and identity, get cash without leaving a trail, take her children and run—all within days of her call to the shelter. She would have had to end all communication with family and friends, without explanation, for years, as well as leave her home and everything familiar.

With this abuser’s wealth and power, he would have had her hunted down; a dream team of lawyers would have taken her children from her. She would have been the villain—reckless, a slut, reviled for stealing the children of a hero. If his abuse of her is of no consequence now that she’s been murdered, how irrelevant would it have been as she, resourceless, tried to make a court and the public understand that she needed to run for her life?

Honestly OJ Simpson is really absolute proof that the traits of easy charm and charisma are at best neutral ones, and never should be considered admirable ones.

Poor nicole. Honestly that period of American culture was probably both the worst and the weirdest, just how she was treated as an afterthought in the aftermath

thanks for that link, gyac

agreed. Nicole lived in hell long before she was murdered. a long history of abuse where he faced no consequences whatsoever, and this is what happens.

for people older than me, how widespread was the knowledge of his abuse before the murder? obv as a kid I wasn't as up on those things, but I felt like it mostly surfaced after he got accused of murder and that he and his handlers had done a lot to bury that.

So much of what we learned about her murder was suppressed, downplayed, or ignored at the trial.

Remember O.J.'s weird hidden camera prank show?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N56DgQ8kM20

At the time, I was living on the other side of LA but I had friends who lived at the time a couple blocks from the scene of the murders... absolutely endless parades of news vans and helicopters circling overhead.

But yeah the Brown/Goldman murders were just one blur in my LA period that also included the LA Riots, Northridge Quake, my first taste of climate change via mudslides coupled with el nino deluges, AIDS crisis (captured beautifully in Silverlake Life), constant drive-by shootings (I lived right between VSLC (crip) & Pirus (blood) territories) & republican policy failure (driven largely by our Reagan/Nixon loving neighbors in the surrounding suburban counties)... not even mentioning economic recession and the closures of defense industry megaliths in the south bay... I guess by now you guys probably know why I love Lodge 49 lol.

Shortly after the murders I moved to SF and I now live not far from the Potrero Hill projects where OJ was born and raised, it's still a tough part of town. The locals don't really talk about him up here. Unlike Dame Lillard, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant who have legacy community outreach/youth programs in the city, OJ just had one faded mural at the top of the hill that was constantly being defaced until they finally painted over it.

https://i.imgur.com/bioZ6mD.png

"beautifully" should read as "poignantly", as while it is indeed a beautiful film but also the most soul-shattering watch I'd ever recommend.

the Kardashians wouldn't have happened without him, so there's that too

I remember working in a small factory when they sent the jury out, and I was just sure they'd come back with guilty based on what we'd heard - but the bookkeeper at the time said it would be not guilty, since they came back with a verdict so swiftly.. i.e. there would be way more deliberation before a guilty verdict was announced. That kinda blew my mind

I remember the opposite, at least from legal commentators on TV at the time--that the quick verdict was in line with the idea that the evidence was overwhelming for conviction.

The trial and the aftermath were so gripping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfEtYYqSl4

I was in my high school cafeteria when the verdict was announced, and the one thing I remember is that a group of African American kids loudly cheered, while the rest of us sat there awkwardly.

When the verdict came out I was in the room with a Pulitzer Prize winning writer who celebrated the verdict because Toni Morrison had convinced her that OJ was innocent.

yeah, it was almost as though it didn't matter to some folks whether he actually did it or not, it was all about Mark Fuhrman and the racist LAPD

The look on Kardashian's face--standing beside O.J.--when the verdict is read is impossible to forget.

OJ’s trial simultaneously proved of both institutional racism and the fact the rich and famous get a different brand of justice in the system. Heisman winner like moves there.

I wonder if the people celebrating the verdict actually believed he was innocent or were just thrilled to see one of their own beat the system for once. it feels a lot like what you're seeing with Trump right now.

I was sitting in my undergrad Yeats class when a student asked if our prof could let us listen to the verdict on the radio. He said yes.

The center did not hold.

'one of their own'.. Trump?

The Bronco cannot hear the Bronconeer

That same job I mentioned upthread, the foreman's father ended up being the juror foreperson on the civil trial.. he got a bunch of offers to write books, etc. but declined them all

I don't think most conservatives really believe Trump is innocent (kinda hard to when he's committing all these crimes out in the open) but I do think they believe they're being oppressed and that the deck is stacked against them, which is why they get so much joy from seeing Trump skirt consequences for anything time and time again

surprised he didn't go back to the well in his Vegas trial and say he blacked out that one time and woke up surrounded by sports memorabilia

The keto diet still makes me think of kato kaelin … the guy i was dating at the time was totally fascinated by kato kaelin’s existence moreso than anything else about the saga. Honestly that’s the only thing I remember… I missed all of it somehow

LA Times with quite the typo in its obituary for OJ Simpson pic.twitter.com/s4RXDN4znF

— Dan Berger (@dnbrgr) April 11, 2024

Typed and deleted a few responses to this and I think it’s better for me if I pretend it was never written

― Cemetry Gaetz (DJP), Thursday, April 11, 2024 3:21 PM (sixteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

look I realize it's a tortured analogy but these people have it pounded into their heads 24/7 that every Democrat is a criminal and the system is stacked against conservatives, whenever I actually engage any of them on Trump's criminality it's pretty clear they dont really care if he committed crimes or not

I do wonder how many of those involved with the defense actually believed he was innocent

I think F. Lee Bailey was the one guy who was adamant till the day he died. He was either too heavily invested to recant, or he really did believe this.

O.J. Simpson Allowed To Remain Living After Coffin Doesn’t Fit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlvuLF6UlMQ

At least twice on Larry Sanders: The great season-opener where everyone's sitting in Larry's office, silently watching the trial (before it became a joke--couldn't get a clip), and this, the episode where Phil's exasperated by Hank's failure to see O.J.'s guilt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8iwqR1Niiw

Also remember another Seinfeld episode, the one where Kramer had to talk down his friend fleeing from the golf course in a Bronco after some misdeed or another.

over 30 minutes of Norm OJ jokes in here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SSVIg4Noqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSCJtuyfUY

xp Someone stole Jerry's Saab and Kramer chased it in a mail truck.

I don't know if that was an O.J. reference, though--this is the episode I meant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIsG_TEFqE8

Unfortunately not on YouTube: the cold open from the first SNL after the verdict

https://i0.wp.com/onesnladay.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/10-7-1995_0.03.47.00.jpg?quality=89&ssl=1

xp Ah yeah got mixed up... the car thief episode involved golf also.

slow clap of a headline https://jalopnik.com/ford-bronco-sport-oj-simpson-recalled-on-same-day-1851403905

pretty good

I don't think anybody is doing it here in an effort to minimize OJ's culpability so much as examine the role of CTE in societal ills - however, Twitter is awash with people saying "check OJ's brain" today and regardless of motivation, that collective behavior appears like people are trying to give OJ an out on a day when a lot of people are just happy another abuser is finally gone.

just a simple doctor here, the CTE thing is certainly relevant, but there’s no way to definitively determine culpability vis a vis the murders, which he obviously perpetrated, considering the event was 30 years ago. that said I don’t think it’s a huge stretch or anything to say he clearly is, and was, a sociopath, and whether that’s a mitigating factor is a question for others

Wasn’t he also a cocaine user? That would complicate any attempt to blame CTE too.

I guess they can crack open his skull now and take a look

I remember liking this movie on HBO as a kid.. wonder how it holds up now

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/headhuntersholosuite/images/8/86/Capricorn_One.jpg

the CTE thought-exercise is “interesting” in the same way that Trump is an “interesting” corollary to OJ …

u_u

i know it was an innocent question but his abuse of Nicole wasn’t public **because there was no venue to push a different narrative about the one of the country’s most famous sports celebrities**

the prevailing conventional wisdom was all you got!! from every news and tv outlet

it didn’t become apparent until the details from the trial started to come out

anyway thank fuck he’s finally gone, talk about outstaying a fucking welcome - that was what, like two decades of pure garbage time of him just waving at us lamely from inside of cars
& commenting on shit no-one cared about like omg YOU CAN GO NOW

xps I was surprised Norm changed his tune about OJ late in life. IIRC this happened on whatever show Dennis Miller has now (or maybe just then), but Kevin Nealon, David Spade and Norm were there as guests at the same time (probably to reminisce about SNL and their work on Weekend Update). Norm's merciless OJ jokes came up and he told them he actually changed his mind and didn't think OJ was guilty. I don't know how the discussion went, but they were obviously surprised and Norm's argument was simply "he was acquitted by a jury of his peers."

Found the clip - it was actually a show hosted by David Spade, and JFC did everyone in SNL from that era turn into a reactionary nut after they left?

https://www.facebook.com/lightsout/videos/norm-macdonald-reacts-to-oj-simpsons-twitter/1588955581245043/ 2:45

(Go to 2:45 for the relevant part)

I think Norm's being dry, I don't think he seriously changed his tune.

"maybe I was the greatest rusher to judgement" lol. Nice to see Spade and Miller getting annoyed anyway

Norm's standup special from like 2006 had a bunch of OJ jokes in it

Something I think I remember correctly (and concede that it's frivolous): along with Hugh Grant, O.J. jokes were part of how Leno was able to jump out in front of Letterman. He was making them almost immediately, starting with the (really lame) "Ito Dancers"; Letterman wouldn't go near the subject for a while, the idea being that murder wasn't especially funny. But at a certain point the Alan Alda rule kicked in--"tragedy plus time"--and he also had to jump on board out of self-preservation.

Prostate Cancer is releasing a new book: "If I Did it"

xp A quick google search confirms your memory:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/1995/06/11/dear-jay-since-when-is-a-double-murder-something-to-make-jokes-about/

In one show, Mr. Letterman cut off the noxious shock jock Howard Stern, who attempted to tell O. J. jokes during a guest stint, saying he just didn’t find much humor in double murder.

But even Mr. Letterman, whose ratings have fallen in recent months, is now telling O. J. jokes, and poking fun at Judge Ito.

Also:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/06/a-kinder-gentle

In the mid-90s, Letterman at first refused to tell jokes about the O. J. Simpson affair, explaining that he didn't think a double murder was funny—this at a time when Jay Leno had Judge Ito clones tripping over their robes in silly sketches.

I think Norm's being dry, I don't think he seriously changed his tune.

― jmm, Thursday, April 11, 2024 9:12 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

outside of people directly involved with the case or the family are there actually people out there who still seriously believe he didn't do it? or at least will say they believe he's innocent in public?

Yes. I saw archival news coverage around the time the ESPN series came out (I don't remember it being used for the series) and they had sound bites of O.J. supporters who were actually in tears and feeling vindicated about his innocence.

Should clarify, these were on-the-street interviews in L.A. when they announced the verdict.

oh, I meant like recently. I am sure a lot of people worked themselves up into actually thinking he didn't do it at the time but I'm guessing most of them looked back and went "naaah, come on"

One other thing that bothers me whenever I come across a claim of innocence - typically from someone who still adores him - is how they completely ignore his long and well-documented history of physically and violently assaulting his wife. How the fuck do you get around that even if you, say, believe in some conspiracy against O.J., and you still want to maintain some bootlicking friendship with him? It's really sickening.

Jesus, Laura Coates has Kato Kaelin on right now.

Kato is a huge Milwaukee Bucks fan he's alright

xxpost otm

Too many people had seen The Fugitive perhaps

two days ago my wife and I were watching an episode of Seinfeld which had several OJ references - it's the one where Kramer tries to sue a lady for wearing a bra in public

since she's from Mexico and didn't know anything about the OJ trial (she only knew the basics - he was a famous athlete who killed his wife but was found innocent) it made me hyperaware of how many OJ references there are in like, every comedy within the span of a decade. so many jokes she just didn't get. hard to imagine anything like that ever happening again, where even the minor details became huge elements of pop culture lore. you'd think the 2020 election/insurrection stuff would be like that but outside of the QAnon Shaman and the Rudy/Dildo shop thing it really hasnt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWjKHuCca9Y

Wow, that joke went way over my head.

Yeah it's funny I remember that and not making the connection.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/G7vxCwEB7FJJViuo/?mibextid=oFDknk

I met Johnny Cochran at a wedding in Florida a few years before he died. He was charming and funny. I asked him point blank if he thought OJ did it.

He laughed and said, "I can tell you are a smart man. You don't even need to ask me that question!" Then he winked and laughed and that was that.

Meanwhile, Alan Dershowitz tells NBC News he's saddened to learn that his onetime client had died. "I knew he was very sick, so I'm upset that he died. I got to know him fairly well during the trial."

FWIW, I remember when William Rehnquist died, Dershowitz pulled nothing back and trashed him. But hey, shed your tears for a wife beater.

Sure he was successful, handsome, a great football player, and a minor celebrity, but in the grand scheme of things that's diddly squat. After he wrote the book called If I Did It, he removed the last possible doubt about whether he was an unrepentant double murderer who escaped conviction and a morally loathsome human being.

I mean when he died the collective response was "good, fuck you OJ" so yeah not exactly a great legacy he's left

Which somewhat similarly-named actor will get OJ's role?
https://www.vulture.com/article/liam-neeson-naked-gun-reboot-release-date-details.html

https://www.cracked.com/article_41808_special-guest-star-oj-simpson-nearly-ruined-a-classic-simpsons-episode.html