O.J. Simpson dies of cancer at 76 after storied NFL career and notorious murder trial

O.J. Simpson, the previous NFL star who was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her buddy in a televised trial that gripped the nation, has died of most cancers, in accordance with his household.

He was 76.

“He was surrounded by his youngsters and grandchildren,” the household stated in an announcement posted on X. “Throughout this time of transition, his household asks that you simply please respect their needs for privateness and style.”

Stories circulated in February that Simpson had been recognized with prostate most cancers and was in hospice care as he underwent chemotherapy. He denied that he was in hospice in a video posted on X, however didn’t tackle whether or not he’d been recognized with most cancers.

“Hospice? Hospice? You speaking ‘bout hospice?” he stated within the video with amusing, including that he doesn’t know who began the rumors. 

Orenthal James Simpson performed 11 seasons within the Nationwide Soccer League and was often called “The Juice” to his followers, however his sports activities legacy was tarnished ceaselessly within the Nineteen Nineties after his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her buddy Ronald Goldman had been killed.

Brown Simpson, 35, and Goldman, 25, had been discovered stabbed to dying exterior her Los Angeles residence in 1994.

On June 13, 1994, Goldman was returning sun shades that the mom of Brown Simpson had left at a restaurant the place he labored. The 2 had been stabbed and slashed dozens of instances, and their our bodies had been discovered the following day.

When Los Angeles cops went to Simpson’s residence to talk to him in regards to the slayings, Simpson didn’t reply the door however officers seen a path of blood resulting in his automotive, in addition to blood on his automotive.

As soon as a revered athlete, Simpson went from a Corridor of Fame icon to a homicide suspect.

Days later, officers charged Simpson with the murders and he tried to evade arrest, leading to an notorious hourslong police chase alongside Southern California’s highways in his white Ford Bronco.

Simpson’s case went to trial in 1995 and was broadcast to tens of millions of viewers throughout the nation. The court docket case was dubbed the “trial of the century” because it dragged on for months and reworked right into a public spectacle.

Emotions over the trial have remained combined through the years, with many accusing the Los Angeles Police Division of racism in its dealing with of the case. Others imagine that Simpson’s capability to retain high-powered attorneys allowed him to get away with homicide.

The trial made prosecutors Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark family names, along with Simpson’s protection attorneys Johnnie Cochran, Alan Dershowitz and Robert Kardashian.

He was acquitted of each murders in a controversial verdict. Two years later, he was discovered civilly accountable for the double murder.

Regardless of his acquittal within the legal trial, many nonetheless believed Simpson was responsible, a perception bolstered by a jury ordering him to pay $33 million to Goldman’s household within the civil case — damages that had been by no means paid in full.

Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, spoke to NBC Information by cellphone Thursday and described Simpson’s dying as “no nice loss.”

“The one factor I’ve to say is it’s simply additional reminder of Ron being gone all these years,” he stated. “It’s no nice loss to the world. It’s an extra reminder of Ron’s being gone.”

In 2007, Simpson led an armed theft try of a sports activities memorabilia seller in Las Vegas. He argued in court docket that he was recovering his personal stolen gadgets, however his protection didn’t sway the jury.

He was convicted and sentenced to 33 years in jail, of which he served solely 9 earlier than he was launched on parole.

Simpson spoke to The Related Press by cellphone in 2019, telling them that he was wholesome and glad dwelling in Las Vegas. He maintained that he believed his theft conviction was unfair, however stated: “I imagine within the authorized system and I honored it. I served my time.”

The Simpson homicide trial was re-enacted and relitigated a long time later in FX’s “The Folks v. O.J. Simpson,” an installment of the community’s fashionable “American Crime Story” collection in 2016. Launched that very same 12 months was the Academy Award-winning documentary “O.J.: Made in America,” detailing Simpson’s rise and fall.

Simpson was born in San Francisco and raised in public housing, going to an area faculty earlier than transferring to the College of Southern California. He was a part of the college’s nationwide championship in 1967 and earned the Heisman Trophy the following 12 months.

He was drafted by the Buffalo Payments in 1969 as a No. 1 general decide for the staff.

Based on NBC Sports activities, Simpson was the primary participant within the league to hurry for two,000 or extra yards in a season and is taken into account the very best working again of his period.

Simpson had three youngsters from his first marriage to Marguerite Whitley, one in all whom died in a drowning accident as a toddler.

He additionally shared two youngsters with Brown Simpson.

Following her homicide and his acquittal, Simpson gained custody of their shared youngsters and moved to Miami with them. His custody struggle together with his former-in-laws additionally drew headlines as the kids’s grandparents took him to court docket in a bitter authorized battle.