OJ Simpson said he “blacked out” in his shocking hypothetical account of the slaughter of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
OJ Simpson said he ‘blacked out’ in his shocking hypothetical account of the slaughter of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman
The late NFL running back, who died aged 76 from prostate cancer in Las Vegas on April 10, was acquitted of the pair’s 1994 knife murders, but after he was cleared Simpson bizarrely went on to publish a quasi-confessional memoir titled ‘If I Did It’ in which he imagined how the killings happened.
Its most infamous chapter ‘The Night In Question’ which reimagines the murders is being spread online in the wake of his death.
Simpson uses the section to describe calling at 35-year-old Nicole’s Los Angeles home and confronting her and waiter Ron, 25, in order to “scare that girl” – before things go “horribly wrong”.
The athlete-turned-actor then describes how he “blacks out” before regaining consciousness to find Nicole and Ron in pools of blood.
In yet another bizarre turn, Simpson’s book says a friend called Charlie was also at the scene of the horror.
Charlie has never been identified – with many thinking he was fictional.
Simpson says in the book – which was ghostwritten with the help of 70-year-old screenwriter Pablo Fenjves, who penned the movie ‘Man on a Ledge’: “I know what happened, but I can’t exactly tell you how.
“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Everybody’s innocent! The prisons are filled with guys who didn’t do (anything)!’, but that’s my point.
“Half of you think I did it, and nothing will ever make you change your minds.
“The other half know I didn’t do it, and all the evidence in the world–planted or otherwise – isn’t going to sway you, either.”
Simpson’s infamous memoir had its title changed by Ron’s family to make it look as if he was admitting to killing the pair.
His relatives were handed the rights to the book by a Florida bankruptcy court after a civil trial found Simpson liable for the deaths of Nicole and Ron in a civil case brought after he was cleared in criminal court.
It was part of the $33.5 million wrongful death settlement against Simpson – and the Goldman family re-released the book under the new title: ‘If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer’, with the ‘If’ in a different font to make it seem as if it was an admission of guilt by Simpson.
The Goldmans said a portion of the proceeds would go to the non-profit Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice they set up in the wake of his murder.
The book reached No2 on The New York Times bestseller list after its publication, and Ron’s sister Kim said at the time she wasn’t surprised about the book being successful because “people have a morbid curiosity” about the murders of her brother and Nicole.