OJ Simpson, athlete whose trial riveted the US, dies at 76

Simpson was earlier embroiled in a sensational double-murder trial that gripped America two decades ago. He was later acquitted

File photo of OJ Simpson, wearing the blood stained gloves found by Los Angeles Police and entered into evidence in Simpson's murder trial, displays his hands to the jury at the request of prosecutor Christopher Darden in this file photograph from June 15, 1995 as his attorney Johnnie Cochran, Jr. (R.) looks on. (Reuters)

OJ Simpson, who ran to fame on the football field, made fortunes as a Black all-American in movies, advertising and television and was acquitted of killing his former wife and her friend in a 1995 trial in Los Angeles that mesmerised the nation, died Wednesday. He was 76.

The cause was cancer, his family announced on social media. The announcement did not say where he died.

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 Simpson Family

— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) April 11, 2024

The infamous case, which held up a cracked mirror to Black and white America, cleared Simpson but ruined his world. In 1997, a civil suit by the victims’ families found him liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L Goldman, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages. He paid little of the debt, moved to Florida and struggled to remake his life, raise his children and stay out of trouble.

Also read | Who was O J Simpson?

In 2006, he sold a book, “If I Did It,” and a prospective TV interview, giving a “hypothetical” account of murders he had always denied committing. A public outcry ended both projects, but Goldman’s family secured the book rights, added material imputing guilt to Simpson and had it published.

Story continues below this ad

File photo of OJ Simpson with his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and their children, daughter Sidney Brooke, 9, and son Justin, 6, at the March 16, 1994, premiere of Simpson’s film “Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, ” in Los Angeles. (Reuters)

In 2007, he was arrested after he and other men invaded a Las Vegas hotel room of some sports memorabilia dealers and took a trove of collectibles. He claimed that the items had been stolen from him, but a jury in 2008 found him guilty of 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, after a trial that drew only a smattering of reporters and spectators. He was sentenced to 9 to 33 years in a Nevada state prison. He served the minimum term and was released in 2017.

Over the years, the story of OJ Simpson generated a tide of tell-all books, movies, studies and debate over questions of justice, race relations and celebrity in a nation that adores its heroes, especially those cast in rags-to-riches stereotypes, but has never been comfortable with its deeper contradictions.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram