O.J. Simpson, the controversial football star and high-profile subject of one of the most famous murder trials of all time, in which he was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, has died at age 76.
The star’s family announced that he died Wednesday following a battle with cancer on Simpson’s official X account on Thursday.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren,” the announcement reads. “During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace."
Simpson was professionally known for his successful athletic career with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, as well as his acting career in projects like the Naked Gun trilogy and The Towering Inferno. His ultimate legacy, however, was defined by his connection, or lack thereof, to the deaths of Brown and Goldman, as his highly publicized criminal trial was among the most significant events of the 1990s.
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Born Orenthal James Simpson in San Francisco in 1947, the NFL star played football for the City College of San Francisco for the 1965-66 season before transferring to the University of Southern California, where he played for two seasons as a running back under coach John McKay. Simpson led the country in rushing yards and won the Walter Camp Award in both seasons with the Trojans, as well as the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award his senior year. While attending USC, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Dragnet and acted in the pilot for Medical Center after graduating.
The Buffalo Bills drafted Simpson with the first overall pick in the 1969 draft. After a few underwhelming seasons, the running back led the NFL in rushing yards in the 1972-73 seasons, becoming the first player to pass 2,000 yards in a single season in the 1973. Simpson won the NFL Most Valuable Player award in 1973, and led the league in rushing again in 1975 and 1976 (he missed the mark in 1974 due to a knee injury). After an injury cut his 1977 season in half, Simpson was traded to the San Francisco 49ers, for which he played his final two NFL seasons. He ultimately recorded 11,236 rushing yards across his NFL career, which put him second on the all-time list when he retired.
A beloved celebrity before his legal troubles, Simpson acted sporadically while playing in the NFL. His most iconic performance came in a series of Hertz rental car commercials in 1975, in which he ran through airports as onlookers chanted “Go, O.J., go!” He also played supporting roles in movies like the Naked Gun trilogy, The Klansman, The Towering Inferno, Killer Force, The Cassandra Crossing, and Capricorn One, and hosted Saturday Night Live during its third season, in 1978. He also served as a sports commentator for multiple networks after retiring from the NFL.
Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, to whom he was married from 1985 to 1992, was found stabbed to death outside her Brentwood condo alongside friend Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. Simpson was charged with the murders when investigators found a glove with blood stains on the athlete's property. He originally agreed to turn himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department, but was instead involved in a low-speed car chase on June 17 as he evaded arrest. Police pursued Simpson as he rode in a 1993 Ford Bronco driven by his former teammate Al Cowlings, who said that Simpson was holding a gun to his own head during the drive.
Simpson’s 11-month murder trial in 1994-95 was one of the most widely publicized events in American history. Prosecutors Marcia Clark, Christopher Darden, and William Hodgman argued that Simpson’s prior history of domestic violence logically concluded with the athlete murdering his ex-wife. They also introduced over 100 exhibits of DNA evidence from the crime scene that allegedly linked Simpson to the killings. The defense “Dream Team” — which included Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey, Robert Kardashian, and Alan Dershowitz —argued that there was reasonable doubt that Simpson was responsible for the murders, stating that the LAPD’s history of racism and incompetent DNA collection led to a compromised investigation.
The jury ultimately acquitted Simpson of the murders, and the verdict announcement was watched by as many as 100 million people stateside. However, the families of Goldman and Brown launched a civil lawsuit against Simpson following the acquittal. The Santa Monica jury found Simpson liable for the wrongful death of Goldman and battery of both Brown and Goldman, and the athlete was ordered to pay $33,500,000 in damages in 1997.
The trial not only impacted American society at large, but also popular culture. In 2016, FX dramatized the events of Simpson's case in the first season of its American Crime Story anthology series, The People v. O.J. Simpson, for which Cuba Gooding, Jr. earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Simpson.
In 2008, Simpson was found guilty on 12 charges relating to an armed robbery incident in Las Vegas in 2007. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison and was granted parole in July 2017. He was released in October 2017, then granted an early discharge from parole in December 2021.
Local10.com in Las Vegas reported that Simpson was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer in February 2024.
He's survived by his four children — Arnelle and Jason, from his first marriage to Marguerite Whitley, and Sydney and Justin, from his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson. Simpson was predeceased by daughter Aaren, who was almost 2 when she accidentally drowned in the family pool in 1979.
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