After more than a decade, Fox aired a special Sunday night featuring O.J. Simpson imagining his role in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her acquaintance, Ronald Goldman, as part of a “hypothetical” confession to the crimes — and it’s shocking.
The interview, titled “OJ: The Lost Confession,” was designed to help promote Simpson’s 2006 book, “If I Did It,” a self-described “hypothetic” scenario narrated by Simpson in which he confronts, and then murders his ex-wife with a knife. The special, hosted by the book’s publisher Judith Regan, was scuttled when publishers decided to shelve the book, and Fox distanced itself from the project to prevent O.J. Simpson from using Nicole’s death to rebuild his name recognition.
The book eventually hit store shelves after Ron Goldman’s parents demanded Simpson publish it so that Simpson could repay the millions the family had won from him in a wrongful death lawsuit. The interview was hidden from the public until this weekend.
Viewers, however, told media that the bizarre narrative only made them more confident that O.J. Simpson was the murderer.
According to Simpson’s “hypothetical” scenario — which he delivered in the first person — he showed up at Nicole Brown Simpson’s home to confront her over “drugs” and “orgies,” which he claimed she was hosting in her Brentwood home. Simpson says before he was able to speak to Nicole, he ran into a friend named “Charlie,” who warned him that Ron Goldman was at Nicole’s home and that Simpson should check it out.
Simpson says he and “Charlie” approached the back gate of Nicole’s home and began “having words” with Goldman. Nicole eventually joined the argument and a violent confrontation ensued.
“And at that time Charlie had followed this guy in, wanted to make sure there was no problem, and he brought the knife. As things got heated I just remember Nicole fell, and hurt herself, And this guy kinda got into a karate thing and I said you think you can kick my ass, and I grabbed the knife, I do remember that portion, taking the knife from Charlie,” Simpson said in his “confession.”
In his story, Simpson then blacks out, only to wake up covered in “blood and stuff.”
Simpson did not take the stand in his own defense during his murder trial. Instead, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over the admission of key pieces of evidence and the motivations of several key figures involved in the police investigation. In the end, that worked to Simpson’s favor. Distracted by the floor show, jurors completely acquitted Simpson.
This might change their mind, though there are still some details on which Simpson’s “hypothetical” account fails to sync up with what police say is the official timeline of events. For instance, Nicole Brown Simpson didn’t “fall”; the killer hit her in the head with the handle of the knife to knock her to the ground, and then the killer stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and back. Ron Goldman, it seems from the evidence, rushed to help her, only to be slashed in the face and throat, and then in the stomach and side.
Nicole and Ron both had their throats slashed.
Simpson was released last year from a Nevada jail after serving nine years for an attempted armed robbery. He now resides in Las Vegas, unable to leave the state by edict of his terms of parole.