What's good y'all, I'm Gene Demby and on this episode of Coast Switch, we're rolling

out an encore.

We're bringing you one of our favorite episodes from the Coast Switch archives.

It's about the documentary from ESPN, OJ Made in America.

And it's about OJ Simpson, his incredible rise and his sorted fall from grace.

And it's also importantly about the strange and fascinating story of OJ Simpson's blackness.

OJ was saying, I want to be judged not by the color of my skin.

I want to be judged by the content of my character and most of all the caliber of my competence.

I think I'm the greatest football player that this country has ever seen.

That's all I want to be judged by.

That was a clip from the documentary and OJ was apparently just really straight up about

this.

He told his friends all the time, I'm not black, I'm OJ.

And so I talked with a filmmaker Ezra Edelman about how OJ, this huge sport star and cultural

figure, tried to position himself outside of race.

He created this idea of, I'm going to protect mine, I'm all about me, I'm all about sort

of furthering my image to make myself palatable to everyone in America to be safe.

So I can be famous and I can be rich.

Alright, so we're going to hear a lot more from Ezra about the making of OJ Made in America.

First, we should lay out some of the backstory.

And if you know anything about the OJ Simpson murder case, beyond the fact that OJ's estranged

wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed and that OJ was tried and

...