How will O.J. Simpson be remembered?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
O.J. Simpson has died at 76. He became a a football star, but a 1995 murder trial made him infamous. Simpson was eventually acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife and her friend – a verdict that split the public. How will he be remembered?
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Simpson grew up in a poor neighborhood in San Francisco, and eventually rose to NFL stardom playing for the Buffalo Bills and later the San Francisco 49ers. He was one of the most well- known and well-liked personalities off the field, too, and was a sports commentator and appeared in more than 20 movies.
But his private life was much darker. During his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson, his wife repeatedly called 911 asking for protection. In one incident, police found her with bruises, a cut lip and a black eye, saying, “He’s going to kill me, he’s going to kill me.”
In the mid-1990s, the country watched as Simpson stood trial for the murder of his then ex-wife and a friend. He was ultimately acquitted. Simpson died of cancer on Wednesday.
Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to Robin Givhan, The Post’s senior critic-at-large, about why the trial had legal and cultural repercussions for years.
Today’s show was produced and mixed by Ted Muldoon with help from Emma Talkoff, Rennie Svirnovskiy, Elana Gordon and Maggie Penman. It was edited by Monica Campbell and Lucy Perkins. Additional thanks to Krissah Thompson.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | O.J Simpson is dead at the age of 76. His family made the announcement today. He died on Wednesday of cancer. |
| 0:10.0 | O.J Simpson was a lot of different of cancer. |
| 0:17.0 | O.J Simpson was a lot of different things to a lot of different people. He was a football superstar. |
| 0:19.0 | For a while, a real American hero. |
| 0:22.0 | Neither sleet nor snow nor the New York jets could stop O.J. Simpson and the Buffalo Bills. |
| 0:27.0 | Ran of four records on a freezing afternoon. |
| 0:30.0 | To many, he was also a villain. |
| 0:32.0 | We the jury and the above entitled action find the To many he was also a villain. |
| 0:32.6 | We the jury and the above entitled action find the defendant Ornithal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder in violation of the man who came to represent domestic violence and racial divides after he was found not guilty of murdering |
| 0:47.0 | his ex wife and her friend. |
| 0:49.0 | You go boy! |
| 0:51.0 | I'm so happy. |
| 0:52.0 | He's guilty. He's got to live with himself, man. |
| 0:55.0 | He knows he did it. |
| 0:57.0 | DNA, he's not racial. |
| 0:58.0 | It doesn't see black and white. It gets seized that he was there and he did it. |
| 1:04.0 | He was also a symbol of our country's changing relationship with celebrity and with television. |
| 1:09.8 | His trial riveted the nation and had legal and cultural repercussions for years. |
| 1:16.3 | So how do we make sense of the complicated position that OJ holds in American culture? |
| 1:22.3 | Today we're exploring that question. From the newsroom of the |
| 1:25.8 | Washington Post, this is Post reports. I'm Martin Powers and it's Thursday |
| 1:30.4 | April 11th. |
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