OJ Simpson, the football star, actor and pitchman whose shocking double-murder arrest and subsequent acquittal cast a spotlight on American race relations, has died. He was 76 years old.

“On April 10, our father, Oriental James Simpson, passed away from his battle with cancer,” the family said in a statement posted on Simpson’s X account.

“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”

Simpson’s well-crafted public image was shattered in the days following his arrest on June 12, 1994, following the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The couple was found dead on the doorstep of their Los Angeles residence.

Simpson’s arrest and trial provided indelible moments, with an estimated 95 million Americans watching on television as the white Bronco he was riding in was trailed by a phalanx of police cars as he was chased by authorities. Failed to surrender at the front.

Outside of Super Bowls, it was one of the top 10 most-watched televised events of all time in the United States.

Not guilty, but responsible

The case spawned saturated media coverage and legal punditry. Simpson’s struggle to put on gloves found at the crime scene was the most notable moment of the televised trial.

Simpson’s acquittal of murder on October 3, 1995, by a jury that deliberated for just four hours after eight months of testimony, was widely debated, with black and white Americans sharing the verdict. How did you see

“The jury just didn’t believe the police and I thought my attorneys did a great job of showing that evidence was planted and tampered with during my trial,” Simpson told NBC. Done.” Today’s show In 2000

He would later be found liable for the two deaths in a $33.5 million US civil judgment.

Simpson would go to prison in 2008 after a bizarre incident in which he staged a robbery at a sports memorabilia hotel room.

In a 2023 social media post, Simpson said, without elaborating, that she had experienced “covid and cancer at the same time.”

In February 2024, he denied reports on social media that he was under hospital care for prostate cancer. But his frequent posts on X soon stopped.

Field, star icon on screen

Simpson rose to national prominence at the University of Southern California, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1968 as the nation’s top college football player. The running back was soon drafted first overall in the profession by the Buffalo Bills.

Simpson retired in 1979 while with the San Francisco 49ers, finishing with 11,236 career rushing yards, second only to Jim Brown at the time. The Juice, as he was nicknamed, set marks for rushing yards in a single game and became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a 14-game season, earning him the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. Got a place in the fam.

“His runs were majestic in their beauty, ballet-like in their grace — there was a symphony on the OJ run,” John Facinda said in NFL Films footage of Simpson’s on-field highlights.

Before entering the NFL, the charismatic Simpson started working on TV shows. These characters emerged in the 1970s and included twists in film dramas. Towering Inferno And Capricorn one and historical TV miniseries roots. In 1988, he built the first of three Go nakedn Comedy film appearance, as hapless police officer Norberg.

Unlike Brown and Muhammad Ali, Simpson generally avoided commenting on the political and social changes related to race in the 1960s and 1970s.

This made him desirable to Madison Avenue, as he became the most prominent black spokesperson for everything from cars to cola. He landed endorsement deals with Chevrolet, Chic, Dingo, Foster Grant and RC Cola, along with a two-decade association with Hertz that featured him running through airports with a briefcase in a memorable TV spot.

“OJ Simpson was a revolutionary athlete,” New York-based sportswriter Robert Lipsite said in a 2016 Oscar-winning documentary. OJ: Made in America.. “OJ made people feel good.”

The acquittal divided the nation.

Simpson’s trial, and especially his eventual acquittal, divided America. Polls by NBC, ABC, Gallup and the Los Angeles Times revealed wide disparities. A significant majority of black respondents agreed with the not guilty verdict, while a majority of white respondents said they believed Simpson was guilty.

There was greater agreement about wealth, as 73 percent in a Gallup poll agreed that Simpson would have been convicted if he had not been wealthy.

A Times poll found that a majority believed the jury was trying to send a message to the nation about racism and police misconduct.

The decision had ramifications in a city where police and business owners had gone unpunished for the shootings of black citizens. In 1992, 63 people were killed in the Los Angeles area, causing $1 billion in property damage, in riots that followed the acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, a black man. happened

The Reverend Joseph Lowery of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference told The Associated Press after Simpson’s verdict, “I think white people have to take a fresh look at how upset the black community is about our criminal justice system. And colorful.”

During the trial, prosecutors focused on Simpson’s history of physical abuse and controlling behavior in his marriage, as well as blood evidence that linked Simpson to the crime scene and the victim’s blood that was was found at the residence of Simpson’s array of high-priced lawyers attacked unusual evidence handled by police while also focusing on the racist past of one officer, Mark Fuhrman, who spotted bloody gloves on the defendant’s property.

But in February 1997, a civil jury found Simpson legally responsible for the two deaths and awarded Brown Simpson and Goldman’s family a $33.5 million estate.