O.J. Simpson Criticizes Goldman Family

O.J. Simpson Criticizes Goldman Family


O.J. Simpson lashed out Tuesday at the family of the late Ronald Goldman, a day after they won the rights to Simpson's canceled "If I Did It" book about the slayings of Goldman and Simpson's ex-wife.

In an online interview featuring questions from hostile participants, the former football star criticized Goldman's family for seeking to profit from the book after they said it promoted criminality and commercialized abuse.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Miami awarded the book rights to Goldman's family Monday to satisfy a $38 million wrongful death judgment against Simpson.

"I find it sort of hypocritical that they talked everybody in America to boycott the book: it was 'immoral,' it was 'blood money,'" he told interviewer Kate Delaney. "But we now see it wasn't 'blood money' if they got the money."

Goldman attorney David Cook said his clients were justified in accepting rights to the book as payment for the judgment against Simpson.

"Mr. Simpson himself has placed us in this horrific setting of seeking to liquidate this asset," he said. "His comments are beyond redemption."

Simpson has maintained his innocence in the killings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Goldman in 1994. Simpson, who now lives near Miami, was acquitted of murder in 1995 but lost lawsuits to both families.

The book, in which Simpson reportedly explains how he might have committed the killings, was never released because of public outrage.

Simpson used much of Tuesday's interview broadcast on business news Web site Market News First to reiterate that he maintained many fans and supporters, a fact he accused the media of obscuring.

But he found little support from members of the call-in audience, whose derisive phoned-in questions he avoided answering at times.

One caller asked the former football player if he thought it was "a bigger feat to break 2,000 yards in one season or slice two necks in one night."

Simpson seemed not to hear the question, which interviewer Delaney reinterpreted for him as, "What was your biggest accomplishment, basically, in football?"

The made-for-Internet studio environment was considerably more austere than that of his last major TV appearance, when he was interviewed for NBC by Katie Couric in 2004.

On several occasions, Simpson and Delaney sat silent. At another point, he called toward an off-camera section of the studio, "Hey, please close that door, guys."

Dallas-based Market News First said Simpson was not paid for his hourlong appearance, the first of four to be broadcast throughout the week.

Simpson said in the interview that he agreed to participate because the Web site's staff made him feel like he would be able to express "what's really been going on," rather than being "cross examined."

"Sometimes you want to have a voice," he said. "I'm tired of people talking for me."

Simpson Blasts Goldman Family

HOLLYWOOD - O.J. Simpson has accused the family of murder victim Ron Goldman of seeking profit from the star's controversial book If I Did It.

On Monday, a federal judge in Miami approved the Goldman's settlement with a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, giving them the rights to the former football star's controversial book--in which he hypothetically places himself at the scene of the murders of his wife Nicole Brown and her friend Goldman in 1994.

Lawyers for the Goldmans reveal they plan to use publishing, film or TV deals from the book to help satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment won by the family against Simpson in 1997.

But Simpson has branded the move "hypocritical."

He says, "I find it sort of hypocritical that they told everybody in America to boycott the book: It was 'immoral,' it was 'blood money.' But we now see it wasn't 'blood money' if they got the money."

Meanwhile, Simpson reveals the book was composed by a ghost author and that he played a passive role in "hypothetically" describing the killings.

He says, "Because I didn't do it... I will not justify the evidence they had.

"We got to that chapter, and I said, 'Hey, I can't participate in that.'

"I read what he wrote, and I saw all of these major holes, all of these impossible things.

"All of these other parts of the book I would correct, but I told myself, 'If I correct this, there are going to be people out there that say, 'Oh, look how accurate this is,' right?"

O J Simpson

Arguably one of the best running backs in NFL history, Simpson gained celebrity carrying the ball for the Buffalo Bills. With a broad handsome face and winning smile, his transition from sports hero to performer was a natural one. Simpson began his off-field assignments by hosting segments of ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and popping up in movies such as "The Klansman", opposite Richard Burton, and "The Towering Inferno" (both 1974), opposite everybody....

Full Biography

Arguably one of the best running backs in NFL history, Simpson gained celebrity carrying the ball for the Buffalo Bills. With a broad handsome face and winning smile, his transition from sports hero to performer was a natural one. Simpson began his off-field assignments by hosting segments of ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and popping up in movies such as "The Klansman", opposite Richard Burton, and "The Towering Inferno" (both 1974), opposite everybody. He became less enchanted with football and more interested in showbiz though he continued to play the game until 1979. Simpson became best known to the general public as the spokesman for the Hertz car rental company in a series of popular TV ads which began airing in 1975. He was featured performing his patented broken-field running style--in a business suit--en route to a departing plane. These commercials soon became the hallmark of the company and kept Simpson in the public eye.
After his retirement from football, Simpson ventured fulltime into broadcasting and acting, working as a commentator for ABC's "Monday Night Football" and NBC's "NFL Live" pre-game show. In 1986 he joined the cast of HBO's football sitcom, "1st & Ten" as fictional former running back great T.D. Parker, a part he played for five years. Simpson returned to features with a supporting role as the accident-prone officer Nordberg in "The Naked Gun--From the Files of Police Squad!" (1988) and its two sequels.

In June 1994, Simpson was detained and questioned by the LAPD regarding the murder of his estranged wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. This occurred five years after Simpson pleaded no-contest to beating his wife, serving 200 hours of community service and paying a nominal fine. On July 17, 1994 Simpson was arrested and charged with two counts of murder after leading the LAPD on televised car chase throughout Los Angeles. On the Monday following his arrest Simpson pleaded not guilty to both murders, and the subsequent murder trial received a staggering amount of international publicity from the news and mass media. After a brief deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of "not guilty" on October 3, 1995. Two years later, however, a civil jury found him liable for damages in the murders.