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Former NFL star, Hollywood icon and accused killer O.J. Simpson is dead. Simpson, 76, passed away on Wednesday in Las Vegas after battling prostate cancer, according to his family.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” a tweet from Simpson’s official account noted. “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Born in San Francisco during the post-war baby boom, Simpson played eleven seasons in the NFL – amassing 11,236 rushing yards and scoring 75 total touchdowns during the course of his career. He remains the only player ever to eclipse the 2,000-yard rushing mark in a fourteen-game season – which he accomplished in 1973 for the Buffalo Bills.
After retiring from football, Simpson became a television announcer, presenter and actor – including starring roles in The Naked Gun franchise.
Simpson infamously avoided a criminal conviction in 1995 in connection with the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. The double homicide trial – and the iconic low-speed white Ford Bronco chase that preceded it – is considered one of the biggest media spectacles in American history. An estimated 95 million Americans watched the Bronco chase, which began when an Orange County motorist informed police she had seen Simpson in the vehicle owned by his longtime friend Al Cowlings.
(Click to view)
Simpson had a bag inside the Bronco containing $8,000 in cash, a loaded .357 Magnum and a fake goatee and mustache, among other items.
A year-and-a-half after his acquittal on criminal charges, a civil court found Simpson liable for the deaths – and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to the families of the victims. According to family members, Simpson paid only a fraction of that amount – although a February 1999 auction which included his 1968 Heisman Trophy netted $500,000 for the Goldman family.
Ten years after the civil court verdict, Simpson and several other men were accused of forcibly entering the Las Vegas hotel room of sports memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong and robbing him at gunpoint. Simpson claimed the items he took had previously been stolen from him, but a jury found him guilty regardless.
Simpson was granted parole by a judge in Nevada in October 2017 after serving nine years behind bars in connection with the robbery. That was the minimum sentence Simpson (a.k.a. inmate No. 1027820) could have served in connection his participation with the heist.
Simpson was released from parole in December 2021 – a little more than four years after his release from prison.
Simpson last made news with our audience a year ago when he famously weighed in on the trial of convicted killer Alex Murdaugh.
“A whole lot of people are asking me what I think about this Alex Murdaugh trial – I don’t know why they think I’m an expert on it, but,” Simpson said.
Really?
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According to Simpson, he tuned into the trial after Murdaugh made the fateful decision to take the stand in his own defense.
“I watched him take the stand and I thought it was probably a mistake because the guy is an admitted liar,” Simpson said last March. “The question is what he lied about. Lying and stealing money is a little different than murder.”
“I am not qualified to really say if the guy did it or he didn’t do it,” Simpson added.
Again … really?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Turns out OJ was the cancer all along.
“All the great men are dying. I don’t feel well, myself.”