Watch: Never-before-seen 2006 interview being called O.J. Simpson's 'confession'
With perhaps the glaring exception of Aaron Hernandez, few football stars have flamed out more ignominiously than Orenthal James Simpson.
The former USC Trojan and Buffalo Bills running back was an absolute star on the football field. The speed, power and athleticism of Simpson helped him reach both the Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame. He finished his NFL career with an impressive 11,236 yards and 61 touchdowns.
He is, objectively, a worthy candidate when discussing the best running backs of all time.
However, when asking most people about Simpson, the majority of them won’t remember him for any of his football accomplishments.
Rather, they’ll ask, “Wasn’t he the guy who killed his wife?”
To which the proper response is, “Yes, probably,” but only in the court of public opinion.
Simpson was acquitted of all criminal charges in the stabbing murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, despite there being significant evidence suggesting he did commit the murders.
Simpson was eventually found liable in a wrongful death civil suit, but he’s still clear of any criminal culpability in the murders.
To this day, many people remain unconvinced of Simpson’s innocence. Various factors, including the veracity of investigator Mark Fuhrman, the infamous blood-spattered glove that “did not fit” and other bits and pieces of evidence that weren’t considered, contributed to a dubious acquittal.
All of that doubt has come back in a major way with the upcoming Fox special “If I Did It,” which chronicles a never-before-seen interview he did in 2006. While the full special hasn’t aired yet, the network has released snippets to whet the appetite. The Fox special has the same name of the book, “If I Did It,” on which the unseen interview is based on.
The most recent segment that’s been released offers Simpson’s explanation of how he ended up at his ex-wife’s apartment after the murder, and it has many people calling it a “confession” and the alleged “smoking gun” pertaining to the murder.
The segment establishes that the discussion about Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman’s murders was purely hypothetical.
“This is very difficult for me to [talk about this hypothetical situation],” Simpson said.
People are pointing to this being a “confession” when the topic of conversation turns to “Charlie,” the alleged friend of the murderer. Some believe Simpson starts slipping into the first person — “I” and “me” — when discussing Charlie, as if he were the one present at the murders.
The big revelation of the video is when Simpson says he went over to Nicole’s apartment at the time of the murders because Charlie told him “something” was going on, and Simpson knew “it’s got to stop.”
Whether that amounts to a confession is open to debate, but there’s no doubt about one thing: The murmurs about Simpson’s involvement in the murders are going to be back in a big way when the Fox special airs Sunday.
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