The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story -- FX series

In every single interview I've seen, he's either said he does not know whether or not OJ is guilty, or else that he doesn't want to reveal his opinion:

In this article, he says "And I'm not saying that he's guilty or innocent, but I hope that, you know, anybody who watches this finds a better understanding."
In this article, he says "If we did our job right, people will understand how they came up with that verdict based on incompetence on many different levels. And I hope even in that statement, I hope you don't think that I think he's guilty or innocent."
In this article, he says "I knew people were going to ask me if I thought he was guilty or innocent. Whatever my opinion is, I’ll never share it because I don’t want you to look at my performance and say he felt this or that."
In this article, he says “After seven months of filming that show, I still don’t know. It’s just too much information,”

And in this article, there is the following exchange:
Glamour: You’ve taken a stance with the press that you’re not saying whether you thought O.J. was guilty or innocent, but has doing this series changed your initial thoughts?
Cuba: Every other day. Every other day. And now, I am so f--king confused. I am! I don’t think I haven’t been!

So unless you can cite an interview where he "positively without a doubt" says OJ is innocent, I'm going to conclude that you're either misremembering or misunderstanding something you've read.

 

So I watched the 2nd episode tonight. And I get to the part where he's curled up in the back seat of the bronco, a football player sized man-child sniffling in a fetal position hugging his gun, and 2 words popped into my mind:

CAM NEWTON!!!

 

Ouch.

 

Actually it would be an excuse. Wouldn't change the fact that he murdered two people but would allow for a different defense. My guess is though that since violence is a symptom of CTE it would've shown up in other areas of his life. Or at least an increase in angry responses to things. Just a guess.

 

Well there was the aforementioned road rage incident....and then of course the whole storming into a hotel room with armed thugs to steal back some memorabilia that finally put him behind bars. If that isn't an indication of quick anger and lack of judgement, I don't know what is.

 

Interesting discussion in the few posts above. It makes me think how a retrial might have gone using CTE as a defense. That would have been a lot of bad press for the NFL. But, since he was acquitted and convicted of something else that will never happen.

 

Has anyone else read the article below? While a physician "would bet his license" that Simpson has CTE, there's no causal relationship between concussions and violent behavior. Right now, as with most things, you could say it may have had an effect on him, but didn't cause him to kill anyone.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/01/did-brain-trauma-make-o-j-simpson-violent.html

 

Weren't both of those incidents after the murders? Believe me, I'm not saying he doesn't have CTE. I'm just wondering how it would've played out in a court room.

 

He also attacked a photographer on a golf course.

But the photographer was from Inside Edition so he wasn't prosecuted and was instead awarded the key to the city.

 

I remember Al Cowlings had a number at the time you could call to hear his take on things - 1-900-Call 4 AC. $2.99 a minute, for a recorded message. I might have considered paying that to speak live to AC during the actual Bronco chase (or "low-speed follow," as I believe it was also referred), but anything else seems like a rip-off.

 

watched show 2... I like Cuba, and the rest of the cast which I feel all are doing a fine job...

 

Definitely liking it...Ryan Murphy (the producer) is developing a consistent style that I enjoy similar to Michael Mann. Maybe more style over substance but at least it's something. Acting, directing, music all top-notch. Some stand-outs: I love the brooding soundtrack, mixed with the sunny LA locales it creates a real tension accentuating the already gripping story; Sarah Paulson, she channels Marcia Clark, brilliant acting chops, she is so perfect in American Horror Story but this is a break-out performance; similar to AHS Murphy really allows the actors to go all-out in their roles, I'm digging Travolta's take on Shapiro and Gooding Jr. is relishing in the O.J. histrionics, even ol' Ross as Robby Kardashian is rocking it. Cool to see Cheryl Ladd too (okay okay I had a poster of her on my wall so maybe it's a 13-year-old boy nostalgia thing happening)

But with the good there is a massive underlying issue. The magnetism/charisma of The Juice is non-existent due to our contempt of the real OJ and the total dismantling of his legend. It is hard to remember his true place in the national psyche: he was my favorite player when he played, I wore his number on my jersey, I watched his movies and his sport broadcasts. So when this went down it was so shocking and surreal. The event really took over the entire nation and world (I'm from Canada btw). My dad (ex-RCMP) even phoned into some LAPD info hot-line because he had some theory about the gloves! (Absolutely true but they never responded to it...haha)The show tries to express that but ultimately fails not to the lack of trying but because it is impossible. It's like watching The Cosby Show now and laughing at the antics of Cliff Huxtable (hold it...isn't that Theo driving the Bronco!). Ouch.

Instead they introduce the race card immediately (it starts with the Rodney King beating) with the Johnnie Cochran and Christopher Darden characters front and center in the action. The show also tries to make it relevant to the Millenials with the continual appearance of the Kardashian kiddies. I don't have a problem with that but I guess I was expecting more of a murder mystery take on it. It's only two shows in but I think I'm in for the entire run. Like what I said above, Murphy's credentials speak for themselves so we'll be treated to an intelligent, interesting and fun roller coaster ride.

 

I was born in 1980, so this was the O.J. I grew up with.

 

Wow. You are right on the money. It's impossible to do justice to the shock of the whole thing. When the whole thing was happening I would go onstage (long time comedian) and talk about Ronald Goldman and how he probably grew up worshipping OJ. Probably had his football card, stayed up late to watch him on TV. Joke was "tell me that's not #1 on the 'gee I never expected to die that way' list. After this you had the Rae Carruth thing and Ray Lewis and then Robert Blake and Phil Spector. And now of course Aaron Hernandez but back then we'd never imagined our pop culture icons could be capable of something like this.

 

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Gross.

 

Caught up to the first two episodes the other night. Watching the Bronco episode, I thought "Who could ever have made this up? You wouldn't buy it." Talk about truth is stranger than fiction. Not to mention, who could ever have believed OJ was innocent after pulling that.

 

Agreed.....Cuba is woefully miscast here. Of all the actors they could have chosen....on
the other hand, Travolta is hilarious as Robert Shapiro.

 

I think their best bet would've been an unknown. Someone who could really embody the character. But it would be asking a lot... when in doubt find a Brit!

 

Dame Helen Mirren as O.J. I'm down.

 

Wow! One thing I've learned from this mini series is how important the Kardashian girls were to the O.J. story. So far they have been in all 3 episodes.

 

Maybe Khloe and Kim did it!

 

I wouldn't put it past them.

 

Had a plan all along... Kill Nicole, make their daddy and mommy's name matter, do porn video, get reality show, become mega rich celebrities. Someone needs to call Detective Lang!

 

Saw this at the store yesterday...