O.J. Simpson, the former NFL player and broadcaster whose athletic accomplishments and celebrity were overshadowed by his 1995 conviction for the gruesome murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, died of cancer, his family revealed Thursday on X. He was 76.
A message from the “Simpson Family” on Simpson’s verified X account Thursday morning read: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.”
His acquittal in October 1995 after nine months in court was met with disbelief by many Americans who had followed every twist and turn in the discussions over minutiae as minute as whether a pair of gloves truly suited the former athlete’s hands.
Simpson was eventually convicted accountable for the deaths in a 1997 civil trial and forced to pay $33.5 million in damages to the victims’ families.
Ronald’s father, Fred Goldman, talked with NBC News on Thursday and described Simpson’s death as “no great loss.”
Simpson also spent nearly nine years in prison for a botched armed robbery before being released in 2017 by a parole board in Nevada, the western state.
About Simpson
Simpson, a San Francisco native, was an All-American at Southern California. He played for the Buffalo Bills, who drafted him first overall in 1969, and was a five-time All-Pro during his nine seasons. After two seasons with the 49ers, he went on to work as a commercial pitchman and broadcaster before being arrested.
Simpson rose to fame, money, and admiration in football and show business, but his legacy was irrevocably altered by the June 1994 knife murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. He was eventually convicted accountable for the deaths in a separate civil action and sentenced to nine years in jail on unrelated crimes.