O.J. Simpson's family confirms his death at 76

O.J. Simpson, a one-time football star and actor who achieved infamy during his 1995 trial over the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ron Goldman, has died. His family confirmed the news via a post on his official Twitter/X account. He was 76 years old.

“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the post begins. “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.”

Simpson first revealed that he “caught cancer” and “had to do the whole chemo thing” in a video posted to his Twitter/X in May 2023. “I’m healthy now. It looks like I beat it,” he added at the end. Then this past February, a Las Vegas news station reported that Simpson was again undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer. In response, Simpson posted another video denying rumors that he was in hospice care. “My health is good. I mean, obviously I’m dealing with some issues but I think I’m just about over it,” he said (via ABC).

Simpson was a figure who loomed large in the popular consciousness for over 50 years. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, O.J.—often called “The Juice”—was already a household name due to his years playing for the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers, before his late ‘70s pivot to Hollywood. Simpson went on to star in all three Naked Gun films, as well as a number of popular Hertz car rental commercials.

Of course, that phase of his career came to an abrupt halt in the 1990s, when he became the primary suspect in the brutal murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. That accusation and Simpson’s subsequent attempt to avoid incarceration led to the infamous 1994 white Bronco chase, during which an estimated 95 million people tuned in to watch O.J. attempt and fail to outpace a brigade of 20 police vehicles over a 60-mile stretch of California highway.

What followed was arguably the most infamous murder trial of all time. The media circus surrounding Simpson’s trial captured the heart of the nation and served as a focal point for simmering racial tensions across the country. The highly publicized event also gave rise to now-notorious figures like Simpson’s legal team—Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro, and F. Lee Bailey—as well as lead state prosecutor Marcia Clark. Near the trial’s conclusion, Simpson was asked to try on an ill-fitting pair of leather gloves found at the crime scene, leading Cochran to coin the phrase, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” In the end, the 12-person jury did just that. It was a decision that rocked the trial’s hundreds of millions of viewers at the time and remains a point of contention nearly 30 years later.

Following the verdict, Simpson was again brought to court in a civil suit from Simpson’s and Goldman’s families, at the end of which he was ordered to pay millions in damages. Following the release of his memoir If I Did It: Confessions Of The Killer in 2007, Simpson again ran into even more legal trouble the same year, after he was placed at the center of a sports memorabilia robbery scheme. On October 3, 2008—exactly 13 years after he was acquitted in the original murder trial—Simpson was sentenced to serve up to 33 years in prison for his role in a Vegas armed robbery. He was eventually released on parole in 2017 and freed completely due to good behavior in December 2021.

Over the years, interest in Simpson’s life and the national impact of his trial has never really waned. In the 2010s, his story received a renewed surge of attention when he became the subject of two high-profile series: FX’s The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and ESPN’s award-winning docuseries, O.J.: Made In America. He has also been the subject of multiple other projects over the years, including O.J. Simpson: The Untold Story (2000), American Tragedy (2000), OJ: Trial of the Century (2014), and O.J. Simpson Trial: The Real Story (2016).