Words by Bailey Alexander
Perhaps the NFL’s most controversial star and TV’s most infamous villain or hero (depending on who you ask), OJ Simpson is dead at 76. But how much of his legacy is down to his NFL career, role in the trial of the century and, of course, the undying question of whether or not ‘he did it’?
Well, did he do it? The law says no, but in the people’s court of social media, late night chats, and general gossip, it’s not as clear cut. Ask anybody you know, they’re probably going to say they think OJ Simpson killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman back in 1994. Yet, don’t be too surprised if, despite their belief that he was a killer, they’re not all that phased by a killer allegedly walking free for all those years or the concept of the Juice being loose.
Quick recap: OJ Simpson was an NFL star, playing for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, who found his fame turn to infamy when ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman were found murdered outside her condominium. Skip forward a few days on from the discovery of their bodies and, OJ, a person of interest in the murders, found himself in a low-speed police pursuit, somewhat zooming down a highway in a now-infamous white 1993 Ford Bronco. The Juice had vamoosed, and he’d done it all on live TV.
From the beginning of the case, the whole story felt sensational. An NFL star accused of murdering his ex-wife and absconding live on TV? It’s the stuff American dramas are made of and, once he was charged with murder, this level of sensationalism and drama continued well into the court case.
In OJ’s corner he had a glitzy cast of lawyers including attorney to the stars Johnnie Cochran, with a name made for television and some pretty heavy hitters on his books (we’re talking the likes of Michael Jackson and Tupac). OJ also had his close friend Robert Kardashian, patriarch to the future Kardashian empire, to back him up against the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office who had a pretty strong case against the NFL star.
The damning piece of evidence that had landed OJ in court was, of course, the glove found on his property and stained with the blood of the two victims. You’d have thought they have had him bang to rights there and then with that one glove but, when asked to try the glove on in court, OJ hand couldn’t comfortably slip into the left-handed blood-covered glove. Those NFL hands were bringing him good luck once again, with Johnnie Cochran getting to cockily decree, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!”.
A car chase, gold star quippy lawyers, an ever-growing smugness emanating from OJ, and damning evidence decaying into not-so-damning evidence – this was shaping up to be one of America’s most controversial trials ever, but also making for undeniably great television.
With that in mind, the reading of the verdict could be described as the series finale. Bill Clinton left the Oval Office to watch the result. People, globally, crowded around their TVs not to see if he were innocent or guilty – I imagine by this point their minds were made up – but to instead see what ending the court had storyboarded for the trial of the century.
Not guilty. The Juice was loose. Cheers, boos, shock, elation, anger, confusion and, above all, the ever-permeant question: did he do it? For this question to survive to this day really highlights just how little faith we, as a people, have in judicial verdicts. Forget the jury and forget the judge, because in the end it’s you, me, everyone, who gets the final verdict on OJ Simpson’s innocence. And why wouldn’t we: don’t all committed viewers know best when it comes to their favourite TV show?
The way the case went onto permeate culture is something pretty immeasurable. On one side of the spectrum, Robert Kardashian’s transformation into a semi-household name commenced the crashing of the dominoes that would eventually see ex-wife, friend of Nicole Brown Simpson, and the world’s number one ‘momager’ Kris Jenner face scrutiny over whether she had had an affair with OJ and, more dramatically, fallen pregnant with Khloé Kardashian a result.
You’ve also got the endless amount of dramatic television material born from the case. I counted at least 4 shows (most famously The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and David Schwimmer) that have sensationalised and explored the People v. Simpson case. On top of these dramatisations, there’s all the sitcoms that have obviously found some kind of joke to make out of the story: The Simpsons, Family Guy (obviously), New Girl, and a number of others. Then there’s JAY Z’s ‘The Story of OJ’ which, sure, references more the racial aspects of OJ’s success as a star but, I’m sure you catch my drift.
A moment that sticks in my mind is one from a 1998 episode of Ruby Wax Meets…, in which the comic/interviewer Wax spends time with Simpson, probing him ever so softly at first before launching at him with the big question on everybody’s lips, “Did you do it?”. OJ proceeds to set up a gag that ends with him pretending to stab Wax with a banana. Was this grounds for a retrial? Is it a pseudo-confession? Are we witnessing a dark humour comedian, a raging psychopath, or simply an attention seeker who failed to consider how people would react to such an insensitive joke. But there it is again – OJ Simpson continuing to raise questions for the public to debate, and doing it once again on TV.
I’ll confess (because he failed to), I think he did murder Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. In fact I’d go as far as to say, quite clearly and succinctly: OJ Simpson was a murderer. Libel you might say, but I googled this and I’m allowed to say what I think in print because, under English law, the dead cannot be defamed so, it’s open season. Margaret Thatcher – you can have you own ‘honest’ opinion piece now I know this information.
Notice how I negated to talk about Simpson’s glowing NFL career and instead opted to talk about the dirty laundry of a murder trial? It wasn’t a stylistic choice or even out of my own personal interest – it’s because that’s what the people care about, and it’s ultimately what his legacy will be and has been for 30 years. The story, the dramatics, the debate he continues to ignite: this is what he’s left behind. Most importantly, we’re left with that 30 year old question: did he do it?