Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Commentary:

O.J. Simpson on parole will continue to enthrall

Simpson

Jason Bean / The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP

Former NFL football star O.J. Simpson enters for his parole hearing at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Simpson was convicted in 2008 of enlisting some men he barely knew, including two who had guns, to retrieve from two sports collectibles sellers some items that Simpson said were stolen from him a decade earlier.

O.J.'s back in the limelight. And don't expect him to leave anytime soon.

More than two decades after O.J. Simpson was acquitted for the brutal murders of his ex-wife and her friend, America remains as riveted as ever by the disgraced football star's never-ending saga.

An Oscar-winning documentary and miniseries on the horrific crimes and the ensuing media circus enthral­led viewers last year.

Thursday offered up another historic TV moment for "The Juice" as his parole hearing dominated the news cycle — reminiscent of the historic low-speed white Bronco chase and the verdict that divided the nation.

That 1995 acquittal in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman — watched by more than 150 million people, an audience far greater than the Super Bowl — was a "flashbulb" moment, says American University professor W. Joseph Campbell.

"It's one of those rare moments when you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news," said Campbell, who penned, "1995: The Year The Future Began," with a chapter on Simpson's case.

"It's almost like he's burned into our memories," said David Gerzof Richard, founder of Big Fish, a Boston-based public relations agency.

Richard said the double-murder case was in the nation­al headlines constantly and "became such a part of everybody's lives."

"It's literally become part of our news-consuming culture," he said.

Simpson's hair is now gray, he's 70, he's spent the last nine years behind bars for a Juice memorabilia-related armed robbery, and the public's fascination with him hasn't waned. His parole hearing made him once again the star on the small screen.

There's a "gauzy nostalgia that embraces the 1990s," Campbell said, and people remember it as a good decade with a booming economy and the emergence of the internet.

"The Trial of the Century," Campbell said, "has some linkage to that time, to the nostalgia that embraces that time."

Other reasons behind the Simpson fascination, Campbell said, was the NFL star's "stunning fall from grace" and how a spectacular defense and a bumbled prosecution helped him beat the double-murder rap.

"He had it all at one time," Campbell said. "He was a star professional football player. He made the Hall of Fame. He was a sports TV commentator, a pitchman, a so-so movie actor. He had it all. He has four kids. He married two attractive women."

Sprung from prison, Campbell predicted, O.J. as a "media-driven, pop culture phenomenon" will emerge again.

A Simpson associate tells USA Today that a free O.J., with an NFL pension to fall back on, plans to move to Miami and play a lot of golf.

But is it even possible for him to stay out of the limelight? Will he be able to resist the inevitable reality show offers? Will there be yet another courtroom drama? Or both?

We'll find out soon enough.