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

Come on now. I mean just because he wrote a book titled "If I did it, here's how I did it," we shouldn't rush to judgement.

 

Watching Ron Goldman's father and sister's faces is just heartbreaking.

 

Agreed.

 

Still laugh about this prank 20 something years later.

Ironically I went to see Speed the night of the big chase..

 

my wife and I are going to watch this as we did back when the trial was live on "TV"...

 

I saw City Slickers 2 that night.

 

Despicable man, despicable verdict. I did like the prank though

 

This is one of the greatest phony phone calls ever and I believe the guy never did another one.

 

He came on to talk about it during one of the anniversarys on Howard Stern and he called Captain Janks a hack if I remember

 

Oh my lord, this thread is becoming quite the tensis.

 

Unless I'm missing something, I can only see R.K.'s face when everyone stands before the verdict is read? It's all Johnnie after that...

 

Look again, specifically around the 26-second mark. There are a few seconds in which Kardashian has a look of, "Holy ****, really?" on it.

A year later, he went on record saying he doubted O.J.'s innocence. They were close friends before the murders, but I don't think the two spoke again after the criminal trial.

 

That pretty much says it for me ...

 

Reflecting back on the original trial, I am hopeful that the TV series will highlight the shameless way the defense lawyers exploited and perverted a real issue (racism) and used it to free a wealthy celebrity who unfailingly got the VIP treatment from the police. Don't want to go off on a rant, but this was truly a case about how the rich and famous tend to get preferential treatment.

 

Yes it looks that way to me as well.

 

I read he regretted his participation in O.J.'s defense the rest of his life, and that he stopped talking to Simpson shortly after the trial. Apparently, O.J. tried calling Kardashian a few times while Kardashian was dying, but he wouldn't take the calls.

 

Definitely not the way a good friend would react. Although you could say he did it out of respect for Nicole and Ron's families.

 

If he truly had any respect for the families, he wouldn't have helped OJ get acquitted. I think his post-trial comments about "doubting" OJ's guilt were entirely self-serving. He knew public opinion believed OJ was guilty, and he didn't want to end up on the wrong side of negative public opinion. It wouldn't surprise me if OJ confessed his guilt to Kardashian.

 

You might be right, but I think his visible reaction to the verdict as it was being read speaks volumes. I think his regret was real.

 

He certainly doesn't look happy in that clip, but I'd say he appears more stunned than disgusted or remorseful. He probably did regret his actions on some level, though. If you have any sort of conscience at all, it would be hard not to feel some regret about helping a vicious double murderer escape justice. But as I said, I think his post-trial comments also had a self-serving nature to them. He knew OJ was going to be a pariah (who was guilty in the court of public opinion) and he did not want to also become one by association.

 

Not all public opinion.

In '94 the percentage of all Americans who thought OJ was guilty was 66%. So 2 out of 3 thought he was guilty. But in 1994, 60% of all African Americans thought the charges were untrue. So it was not a universally held opinion at that point in time that OJ was guilty - the belief that he was guilty or innocent was very much along racial lines.

In 2014 slightly more than half (53%) of African-Americans now believe OJ was guilty. The percentage for all Americans in 2014 is now at 83%. So thinking has skewed more toward his guilt overall today than back in 1994.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...african-americans-now-say-simpson-was-guilty/

 

Very interesting. Seeing all the coverage brings back so many memories. One of my favorites, his plea: "Absolutely, 100% not guilty."

 

I thought he was innocent at first. I was 13 (about to turn 14) when the murders happened, and in my young naivety I couldn't fathom that Nordberg from The Naked Gun movies and/or that friendly NBC Sports commentator was capable of such evil. I even remember rooting for him during the Bronco chase!

I'm not sure when I changed my mind, but it was well before the trial started.

 

Very true. But what I was thinking (though admittedly, I didn't say it) is that in the social circles in which Kardashian traveled (white, wealthy power brokers of Hollywood) there was probably pretty close to 100% consensus of OJ's guilt. I imagine the majority of his friends, acquaintances, and business associates believed OJ was guilty, and their opinions would be the thing that would have the most impact on his life. It probably wouldn't matter much to him if he was viewed as a hero by low-income African Americans with whom he never came into contact, if his immediate associates were looking down upon him as a sleazy lawyer who helped an obviously guilty man go free.