OJ Simpson, the NFL great who later became best known for being accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson amid a high-profile televised car chase and car trial in which he was ultimately acquitted of murder, has died. It was 76.
In a post on Simpson's official X account (formerly known as Twitter), the Simpson family shared the following statement: “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 respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
His death follows a life colored by success in sports and Hollywood later overshadowed by court trials. In Simpson's Heisman Trophy-winning days at USC — where he set the record for 2,000 yards in a season — and was doing the lovable dance in Naked weapon The films were later preempted by what became the Trial of the Century.
This began on June 12, 1994 when Simpson's ex-wife Nicole BrownSimpson was found murdered outside her Brentwood condominium along with a young man later identified as Ronald Goldman. Simpson was immediately identified as a possible suspect in the murder of the mother of his two young children.
What followed was a murder trial where Simpson was ultimately found not guilty of the double murder outside his Brentwood home on Bundy Drive in Los Angeles. An estimated 150 million people tuned in to see Simpson walk out of the courtroom on October 3, 1995.
But he faced obstacles to return to his life. A civil settlement followed, ordering Simpson to pay $33.5 million to the Goldman family. Simpson is back in court to stand trial for an incident in Las Vegas in 2007 in which he and his gun buddies tried to retrieve sports memorabilia that OJ thought was his. Simpson went to prison after being found guilty of armed robbery. He was released from prison in 2017, having served nine years.
This story was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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