Last week, the polarizing O.J. Simpson passed away from cancer. If you are anything like me, you probably remember him as the only human able to drive on the 405 with no traffic. O.J. was a star football player with the Buffalo Bills and had a stellar career. But his 1994 murder trial launched him into a whole new category as everyone in America was glued to their television screens to watch the 11-month trial.
O.J. was tried and found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Both were stabbed to death outside her home in Brentwood on the night of June 12, 1994. O.J.’s infamous Bronco car chase lasted 45 minutes and took police on a tour of Los Angeles. Citizens were glued to their screens with this moment arguably being one of the first reality TV moments in history.
The Kardashians
The fact that everyone on O.J.’s legal team, including O.J., died of cancer hasn’t gone unnoticed. O.J. had quite the defense team, which included Robert Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz, Johnnie Cochran, and Robert Kardashian. Yes, the Big Daddy of The Kardashians. The latter was the father of Kim Kardashian and the rest of her famous family. Kris Jenner was extremely close friends with Nicole and appeared in the courtroom on Nicole’s side more than once. Kris, Nicole, and their families shared vacations and celebrated birthdays for two decades.
So things got awkward when Kris took the side of her deceased friend, and Rob took O.J.’s. Kris told People, “I went to bed one night, and I woke up the next morning, and my entire universe had changed. They were two of the best friends I ever had in my entire life.”
Caitlyn Jenner
As for Caitlyn Jenner, all she wrote was “Good Riddance #OJSimpson” on X, formerly known as Twitter. Caitlyn once told Dr. Phil via OK! things were tense between the families during the trial; sharing, “We sat down, and I said, ‘Look, just because he got a not guilty verdict doesn’t mean he didn’t do it, and I just don’t want to hear his name anymore.’ And I had a lot of conversations with Robert to try to make sure it didn’t tear the family apart.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
However, during Season 6 of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, he stirred up some drama after Kathryn Edwards joined the series. Even though she was a one and done it was revealed that her ex-husband, former NFL player Marcus Allen, was once close friends with O.J., They were so close that Marcus testified that O.J. had asked him to lie on his behalf during his wrongful death suit filed by Nicole and Ron’s families via CNN. O.J. had claimed that Marcus had an affair with Nicole, but he denied these allegations. During his deposition, Marcus revealed that O.J. had called him from jail and asked him to lie and go along with the story. Marcus then ended his friendship with O.J. after that icky phone call.
But the morally corrupt Faye Resnick, who often appears as Kyle Richards’ sidekick, wrote in her tell-all book Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted via Us Weekly that Nicole had disclosed that she had indeed had an affair with Marcus. Faye wrote, “Nicole told me O.J. threatened her, saying ‘If you’re ever with Marcus again, I’ll … I don’t know what I’ll do, but it will be bad. I won’t be able to control myself. At times, we were worried that O.J. might take revenge on Marcus by telling his fiancée Kathryn about the affair with Nicole.”
Any justice?
Years later, after O.J. was acquitted, he found himself in trouble again in 2007. O.J. had taken it upon himself to lead a group of men into a Las Vegas hotel to steal back items he claimed were his own sports memorabilia. The NFL star was caught and charged with multiple felonies, which included kidnapping and armed robbery. He was found guilty and served eight years in jail.
He did appear in a TV special, Juiced with O.J. Simpson, providing an hour of so-called entertainment, pulling pranks on unsuspecting victims. O.J. used cosmetic make-up and costumes to create a variety of different characters. Mercifully, it only aired as a one-time episode on pay-per-view television.
O.J.’s death has sparked a lot of emotion over this past week, even from some of our favorite reality stars. Even though he is now gone, it seems the legacy of O.J. will forever live on through our small screens.
TELL US – DID YOU HAVE ANY FEELINGS TOWARDS O.J. PASSING?
