Saturday, April 20, 2024

The Controversial life of OJ Simpson

From a young age, Orenthal James Simpson (aka OJ Simpson aka OJ aka The Juice) was destined to be the center of attention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:O.J._Simpson_1990_%C2%B7_DN-ST-91-03444_crop.JPEG

OJ Simpson

His first claim to fame was as an excellent dodger of tackles on the football field.

https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/lists/o-j-simpson-usc-heisman-trophy-profile/

Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Southern Cal's OJ Simpson dodging tacklers from Notre Dame

10/14/1967

He came to national attention as a running back for the University of Southern California. There, he won the Heisman Trophy, the ultimate award in all of college football.

He ended his college career in the 1969 Hula Bowl, the college all-star game taking place in the now-former Honolulu Stadium. During that game he ran 88 yards for a touchdown in one of the greatest plays in that stadium. Even today, his performance in that game was ranked as one of the greatest to have occurred in that now-former stadium.

OJ Simpson went on to play 11 years in the NFL as one of the greatest running backs of all time.

His highlights are still seen as the gold standard for running backs as he could dodge tackles better than nearly everyone else in sports history. Even today, the new generation of athletes (whose parents probably weren't even born yet when OJ was playing) watch his highlights in admiration as they dream of being the next OJ!

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

Just one of MANY highlight videos of OJ Simpson

His football career may have ended at the end of 1979, but OJ Simpson wasn't going to fade into obscurity. He already appeared in one of the most legendary TV advertisements for Hertz rental cars where he was seen running through the airport in a suit-and-tie. He was one of the first African-American athletes to appear in mainstream TV ads, paving the way for Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal, and many more.

OJ also became a film actor appearing in the historical film "Roots" and the comedy "Naked Gun" series.

He was also a sports broadcaster for ABC.

OJ seemed to have it all - the athletic talent, charisma, fame, fortune, whatever one desires.

However, OJ Simpson also had a negative side.

He was in an abusive relationship with his wife Nicole Brown Simpson. Over the years, she called the police on him after he gave her another beatdown.

But OJ Simpson had friends in the police department willing to cover for him. The whole thing was glossed over as OJ continued to appear in movies, ads, and sports broadcasts.

Nicole finally had enough in 1992, divorcing him for good. However, because they had children together, they couldn't totally avoid each other.

Instead of moving on, OJ continued to stalk Nicole. Nobody gets away with running from "The Juice".

Then on the night of June 12, 1994, as Ron Goldman was visiting Nicole's home, both were stabbed to death.

A few days later, the police revealed OJ Simpson as a suspect in the case.

Most of us couldn't believe it. OJ Simpson, the charismatic athlete who made us laugh in Hertz ads and Naked Gun movies? That guy? No way!

The LAPD asked OJ Simpson to turn himself in.

But OJ escaped with long-time friend AC Cowling driving the now famous white Ford Bronco on the freeway.

https://www.biography.com/crime/oj-simpson-bronco-chase-car-museum

Photo credit: Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images

OJ in the white Ford Bronco

This was such big news that when my dad came home from work, he told me to turn on the TV as he was hearing about the Bronco chase occurring.

The NBA Finals were going on at the same time, as NBC cut away from the game to showcase the car chase.

OJ Simpson ended up surrendering when the white Ford Bronco reached his house.

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The trial

The trial became BIG NEWS.

That's all the TV stations wanted to showcase!

(note: social media as we know it today didn't even exist. The internet was a few years away from becoming mainstream. TV was the center of media consumption back then)

Nevermind that wars were going on halfway around the world, affecting many more lives!

Reporting on those issues doesn't attract as many viewers as OJ!

So there it was! It was OJ all-day!

Even as a middle-schooler back then, I thought this obsession with the OJ case was just too much.

It wasn't just about celebrity and a shocking crime.

This was only a few years after the 1992 LA Riots. The one that occurred after the 4 LAPD cops were found Not Guilty of assaulting Rodney King.

Tensions were already high in the City of Angles.

And now here's a case with 2 "white" victims (one Anglo woman and one Jewish man) and 1 "black" suspect (of course, OJ Simpson).

There were worries that a guilty verdict was going to set off riots in South Central LA again.

Nevermind that OJ Simpson never spent much time in South Central, that he had mostly European-American friends, and that he had cops as friends.

There were conspiracy theories that the LAPD was out to get OJ because he was a "famous rich black man".

It didn't help that one of the LAPD detectives involved in the investigation, Mark Fuhrman, was previously recorded making racist remarks about African-Americans.

There was a bloody glove (with OJ's DNA) found at Nicole's house) and the other bloody glove was found in OJ's white Ford Bronco.

But being that Fuhrman found the gloves, this brought up conspiracy theories of LAPD racism.

Then in the trial, OJ was asked to try on the gloves. He acted as if he had difficulty putting the gloves on.

Then OJ's lawyer Johnnie Cochran said "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"

I've been in workplaces where the only gloves available were the "medium" gloves that don't fit my hands very well. Guess what phrase enters my mind when that happens? "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!

I guess you must acquit me if I've done anything wrong while wearing those gloves).

https://www.businessinsider.com/oj-simpson-glove-why-2016-6

photo credit: Reuters/Sam Mircovich

As if nobody has ever put on gloves that didn't fit perfectly in the entire history of the universe

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The thing about trials is that they're not about the morality of the situation, they're about the technicalities of the situation. It's about how what was mentioned in the trial fits the technicalities of the law.

During a criminal trial, the burden of proof is on the prosecution, who has to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Therefore, the defense doesn't really need to prove innocence, just planting a seed of reasonable doubt is good enough!

The jurors listened to 911 calls regarding OJ's past abuse of Nicole and heard all the forensic evidence linking OJ to the crime.

But there was still reasonable doubt, because the investigating officer Mark Fuhrman was a racist, and the gloves didn't fit perfectly.

So OJ was found "Not Guilty"

But remember, a "Not Guilty" verdict DOES NOT MEAN "proven innocent.

It ONLY MEANS prosecutors haven't proven guilt BEYOND a reasonable doubt.

So if you're a juror and if you still have any uncertainty, you have to choose NOT GUILTY

NOT GUILTY is NOT "certainty the person is innocent"

NOT GUILTY only means "guilt not proven beyond a reasonable doubt"

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After the trials, the TV cameras showed crowds of European-Americans expressing disapproval of the verdict, while crowds of African-Americans were cheering.

Multiple commentators were saying that the African-American cheering of OJ's "Not Guilty" wasn't so much about the love of OJ (who had mostly European-American friends), but it was more about payback for Rodney King, Emmett Till, and all the other African-Americans who didn't get justice.

But Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman HAD NOTHING to do with the LAPD beating of Rodney King, NOTHING to do with Emmett Till's murder, NOTHING to do with slavery or segregation. Didn't matter, the attitude was "whitey has to lose sometime".

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Me, living in Hawaii, thousands of miles away, two African-American reactions here locally were memorable.

The first was in my 8th-grade computer class where an African-American boy said "I think OJ Simpson is guilty" and then a Polynesian girl asked him "Why aren't you supporting the black community?" Really? Does he have to confirm a stereotype?

(note: that school, Kawananakoa Middle School has VERY FEW African-Americans. The school's population is mostly Asians and Pacific Islanders)

( years later, when I mentioned about that to a college classmate who attended middle/high school with a larger African-American population, he said that African-American boy in my class would've been in big trouble if he said "OJ is guilty" out loud)

The second memorable reaction was on the day of the verdict. The verdict was supposed to come out at 7am (Hawaii time) which meant I would be on the bus to my high school (I was in 9th grade at that point). One African-American male on the bus was listening to the radio on his Walkman and said "Yes, yes, Not Guilty". Most of the other people on the bus were Asian immigrants so I have no idea what they were saying after they heard the "Not Guilty" verdict!

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The murder trial was over, but Ron Goldman's father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OJ.

That civil trial wasn't televised, so there was less content for the TV stations to analyze.

That trial didn't feature Mark Fuhrman, no trying on the gloves, but more forensic evidence against OJ.

OJ was found liable. Meaning that though he didn't have to go to jail, he now owed money to the families of the victims.

OJ left California, moved to Florida, and filed for bankruptcy. Based on Florida's bankruptcy laws, he didn't pay, though if OJ ever set foot in California, there would be a warrant and he would have to pay.

So no more Cali for OJ.

A few years later, OJ moved to Nevada. While living there, he found out that some of his autographed merchandise was stolen, and he gathered a group of men to confront the alleged thieves. But it was OJ that was then arrested for armed robbery. He spent 9 years in prison. Though he was trying to recoup what was actually his, the verdict was basically payback for the totally unrelated case of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

OJ Simpson was eventually released. By then, he was a social outcast. The former charismatic star was no longer a cherished celebrity, just another has-been who threw it all away!

OJ Simpson died earlier this month of prostate cancer. He was 76 years old.

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PS: I remember a social media post wondering if OJ Simpson had CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) a severe brain injury that has been diagnosed for many former football players. I wouldn't be surprised. It's up to his family if they want to investigate or publicize the issue.

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