Usually sad when people die, but having a little trouble with this one.
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I agree! I looked up to him so much when I was a kid. He took up way too much of my bandwidth when I was supposed to be working in the '90s. I couldn’t look away.
My D2 was born on June 12, 1994, the day of the murders. I still remember sitting in my hospital room with my new baby and every TV channel talking about this. D2 has used this fact as an icebreaker many times.
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I believe he literally got away with murder.
My first thought when hearing the news was “you’ve got a seat in hell waiting for you.”
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A reporter managed to get ahold of Fred Goldman:
‘The only thing that I have to say today is that this is a further reminder of the loss of my son Ron,’ Fred told DailyMail.com.
'It is a further reminder of my son’s murder and a reminder about the many years we have missed Ron.
‘His death is a reminder that Ron and Nicole were murdered by him. I am not going react to my thoughts about him dying.’
He concluded: 'I have nothing to say about him. My response will not be about OJ’s death but about the loss of my son’s life by him.
‘Thank you for calling. That is the only thing that I have to say.’
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Ah, the OJ Simpson divide. In my adult life as a younger Gen X member, nothing has had a larger racial divide than the OJ Simpson verdict. My memory of the verdict was pure jubilation and celebration on my HBCU campus despite some (like me) believing he was probably guilt. It was the 1st time that I learned a truth about our society (That having “green” could overcome almost any obstacle including being a Black man accused of murdering 2 White people). I think most White people would be shocked at how divided we were in 1995 when that verdict was reached, because I don’t know even 1 Black person back then who was mad at that acquittal. I also heard of the reaction from my best friend at his PWI (Again, the Black students celebrated while White students were upset) and understood that we still had a lot further to go to bridge such differing reactions.
Even today, my timelines are full of Rest in Peace (or Rest in Power) from my Black family and friends. I doubt that OJ’s death will garner a similar reaction on CC. So the divide (at least amongst older Americans) still continues to some extent today.
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My birthday too! but of course many, many, many years earlier.
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Times two.
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I was a nursing student working on an oncology floor the day the verdict came out. All of the black nurses and nursing aides were cheering and high fiving and the white nurses were appalled and saying so, but only to each other, not to the ones expressing happiness with the verdict. It was that day that I picked up on the actual animosity that had been simmering between the two groups, likely well before the murders even occurred. Prior to that, I had thought they were all a tight nit group.
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I get that! One of my best friends at the time, an older African American woman who spent most of her life in a traditionally black neighborhood in Brooklyn (I, white, lived in the next neighborhood over which was also overwhelmingly black and Latino), said, “Sure, he killed his wife and that white boy but I’m glad he got away with it.” She advised me to stay home until all the talk from blowhard Brooklynites talking about violence toward whites blew over. And that’s what I did.
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I wonder if anyone’s opinions of him and/or the verdict have changed over time?
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I was on the “reasonable doubt was presented” side, and the verdict was fair based on the evidence presented at trial.
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His daughter, now an adult, believed him to be guilty and was estranged from him.
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This.
However, that doesn’t mean he was innocent, of course. I am pretty sure the majority of the public, no matter their skin color, believe he was guilty, but there were so many glaring problems and the jury had to do go with what they were given. My close relative was a judge at the time and said that it was a clear case of jury nullification. The wikipedia entry on this is interesting: Jury nullification - Wikipedia
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I wasn’t alive then, so my opinions don’t go back as far as others.
The verdict was the right one based on the rules of trial law as I understand them.
I still think he killed them, though.
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My H worked right down the street from the courthouse where the trial was held…let’s just say everyone at his office was very glad when it was over as it caused a lot of traffic and hold ups in the area.
I just learned that the Kardashians are connected with OJ Simpson as their father was one of his attorneys. I don’t and never did watch that Keeping up with the Kardashians show, but one of my colleagues was talking about that…
Wasn’t this the white SUV police chased on the highway?
It’s very sad that this accomplished athlete is not being remembered for his accomplishments, but rather his shortcomings. It’s just too bad this all happened this way…for everyone.
@thumper1 yes it was!
I also remember the OJ Simpson SNL skits…I was kind of glad when the whole thing blew over
I was sitting in an airport bar once (Houston I believe) when I realized that OJ Simpson was in the bar, basically holding court like a king. People were taking selfies with him, asking for autographs. At one point he walked by a woman eating at the bar and took a couple of french fries off her plate and kept walking around, enjoying the attention. She looked surprised but said nothing. The guy next to me said “well, I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing his face again.” But most of the people in there seemed delighted to see him. I was shocked.
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In 2016, FX did “The People vs OJ Simpson.” As someone who remembers the trial, I thought it was well done. The focus is on Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran and Sarah Poulson as Marcia Clark. So much happened in that trial! David Schwimmer played Robert Kardashian. Great cast:
- Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J. Simpson
- David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian
- Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey
- Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden
- Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran
- Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark
- Steven Pasquale as Mark Fuhrman
- John Travolta as Robert Shapiro
It’s available to stream on Hulu apparently or for purchase on other services. How to stream 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' on Hulu, Disney+
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