O.J. Simpson, the American football star and actor who was acquitted in a sensational 1995 trial of murdering his former wife but was found responsible for her death in a civil lawsuit and was later imprisoned for armed robbery and kidnapping, has died at the age of 76.
Simpson, cleared by a Los Angeles jury in what the U.S. media called “the trial of the century,” had died on Wednesday, April 11, after a battle with cancer, his family posted on social media on Thursday, April 10.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,”
“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,” the family wrote on X formerly Twitter.
The American football Running Back had been receiving treatment in Sin City after a prostate cancer diagnosis.
Simpson played 10 years in the NFL, after which he parlayed his MVP status into an acting career. But while his star continued to rise, Simpson’s home life was far from cheerful: After divorcing his first wife in 1979, he married waitress Nicole Brown, who later accused him of vicious spousal abuse that included verbal taunts and physical beatings.
All that changed after Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman were found fatally slashed in a bloody scene outside her Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994. A live TV coverage from serval American broadcast stations of his arrest after a famous slow-speed chase marked a stunning fall from grace for the sports hero.
The public was enthralled by his “trial of the 20th century” on live TV. His case sparked debates on race, gender, domestic abuse, celebrity justice and police misconduct. Simpson at the outset of the case declared himself “absolutely 100 percent not guilty,” was acquitted him on Tuesday, October 3, 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to family members of Brown and Goldman.
A decade later, still shadowed by the California wrongful death judgment, Simpson led five men he barely knew into a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped Las Vegas hotel room. Two men with Simpson had guns. A jury convicted Simpson of armed robbery and other felonies.
Imprisoned at age 61, he served nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison, including a stint as a gym janitor. He was not contrite when he was released on parole in October 2017. The parole board heard him insist yet again that he was only trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and family heirlooms stolen from him after his criminal trial in Los Angeles.
“I’ve basically spent a conflict-free life, you know,” Simpson, whose parole ended in late 2021, said.
Simpson parlayed his football stardom into a career as a sportscaster, advertising pitchman and Hollywood actor in films including the “Naked Gun” series which had the iconic comedian and actor, Lesley Nilson.
Orenthal James Simpson was born on July 9, 1947 was an African-American football player, actor, and broadcaster. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977 then later played for the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979, and was regarded as one of the greatest American Running Backs of all time.
