Notorious barely scratches the surface when trying to describe the late O.J. Simpson. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re chronicling the rise and fall of Orenthal James Simpson, from AFL All-Star, to movie star, to one of the most infamous names in American history.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00O.J. Simpson always needed validation from those around him,
00:05and he found it in football, even from an early age.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're chronicling the rise and fall
00:12of Orenthal James Simpson, from AFL all-star to movie star
00:15to one of the most controversial names in American history.
00:18Are you capable of killing somebody?
00:23You know, I would say, actually, I would say no.
00:26Part 1. Go O.J. Go.
00:29Despite being born Orenthal, a name his aunt suggested,
00:32Simpson was called O.J. as far back as he could remember.
00:35Following his parents' separation, Simpson lived with his mother Eunice,
00:39a nurse's aide, and his sister Shirley.
00:41Although they had land, there was no opportunity for people of color,
00:45so everybody got out of Dodge, as they say.
00:50O.J. and I were born in San Francisco in 47.
00:53Simpson grew up knowing little about his father, Jimmy Lee Simpson,
00:56a prominent San Francisco drag queen who later came out as gay.
01:00Raised in Potrero Hills Housing Projects, Simpson fell in with the Persian Warriors,
01:05getting arrested three times before getting out of high school.
01:08At 15, a friend introduced Simpson to Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants,
01:13inspiring him to get his act together.
01:15Although Simpson wore leg braces during his youth,
01:17he matured into a promising athlete, joining his high school football team.
01:22He was big, fast, powerful, dynamic.
01:26Upon graduating, Simpson had the same two options as most young American men in 1965,
01:32the Vietnam War or college.
01:34Although Simpson's grades were not great,
01:36he was able to attend City College of San Francisco.
01:39O.J. takes the football, boom.
01:43I think he runs about 90 yards with it for a touchdown.
01:47Continuing to pursue football, Simpson helped carry his team to a Prune Bowl victory.
01:52This gained the attention of colleges like the University of Southern California,
01:56where Simpson transferred.
01:57And I asked him, O.J., what is it that you're looking for?
02:04Said, I want to be the best.
02:07I want to go to a school where I play against the best.
02:10While Simpson also took track, he made his claim to fame on the football field,
02:15pulling off a legendary 64-yard touchdown during his junior year
02:19and achieving the Heisman Trophy as a senior.
02:22As you can see, the Heisman Trophy award ceremony is over.
02:25And O.J. Simpson, number 32, University of Southern California,
02:29has been beset by autograph hounds.
02:32The rising running back was the first overall pick during the 1969 NFL-AFL draft,
02:37entering a five-year deal with the Buffalo Bills for a staggering $650,000.
02:43Throughout his first three years with the Bills,
02:46Simpson didn't live up to the expectations he established in college.
02:49Many felt he wasn't properly utilized by coach John Rauch or his successor Harvey Johnson.
02:54He tried to make O.J. a receiver, more or less.
02:58What we call tosses, quick opening plays.
03:02And O.J. couldn't catch a ball.
03:04He couldn't catch a ball if they paid him to catch a ball.
03:07Once Lou Saban took charge, he built the team's offense around Simpson.
03:12In 1973, Simpson became the first NFL running back
03:16to exceed the 2,000-yard mark in a season, being named MVP.
03:2073 was like a rebirth of his celebrity.
03:28When I was 22 years old, I thought, you know,
03:30this is like being on a team with Babe Ruth.
03:33Although he never played in a Super Bowl, he'd go to the Pro Bowl six times.
03:38Simpson also accumulated 11,236 rushing yards throughout his career,
03:43nearly breaking the all-time record.
03:45By the time he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers,
03:49Simpson's football career had run its course,
03:51but he was just getting started as a performer.
03:54There are certain opportunities outside of football that I can't,
03:57I just can't overlook too many more years.
04:00A few years before retiring, Simpson demonstrated his charisma as a spokesman
04:05through an ad campaign for the rental car company Hertz,
04:08popularizing the slogan Go O.J. Go.
04:10So he came up with the idea of putting in various characters
04:14who would see O.J. and endorse him by saying,
04:18Go O.J. Go.
04:23At the time, Black athletes were rarely featured in advertisements
04:27that weren't specifically tailored for Black audiences,
04:30with Simpson being seen as a trailblazer.
04:32At the time, athlete endorsements were virtually non-existent.
04:36And for them to sign him, a Black man, a football player, was groundbreaking.
04:42Simpson became a brand, endorsing other products like Pioneer Chicken,
04:47Dingo Boots, and naturally, Tree Sweet Orange Juice.
04:50It wasn't long until Simpson pursued a career as a professional actor,
04:54appearing in shows like Roots and movies like The Towering Inferno.
04:58His most famous role was the long-suffering Fred Nordberg
05:01in the Naked Gun trilogy.
05:03Where's Nordberg?
05:04He's right here.
05:05Right. Nordberg. Me. Frank. Your buddy.
05:12The juice is loose.
05:14Just out of high school, Nicole Brown was working as a waitress when she met Simpson,
05:19who was still married to Marguerite L. Whitley.
05:21After their first date, Brown described Simpson as, quote, forceful.
05:26And I went, what happened?
05:29And she goes, well, he was a little forceful.
05:32And I go, Nicole, why would you let him first date be a little bit forceful?
05:38Well, Dave, don't be upset.
05:40I think I really like this guy.
05:41Despite this early warning sign, Brown was still drawn to Simpson,
05:45whose first marriage ended in 1979.
05:48Six years later, Simpson and Brown married, having two kids.
05:52At the height of Simpson's movie career, his second marriage collapsed.
05:56Most of their big fights were about his affairs with other women.
05:59In 1989, a hospitalized Brown accused Simpson of domestic violence,
06:04saying that he was going to kill her.
06:06O.J. Simpson that night definitely got preferential treatment.
06:12Had that have been anybody else, you or me would have gone to jail.
06:16Simpson pleaded no contest, but he received two years probation,
06:20120 community service hours, and a $470 fine.
06:25Even after the marriage ended in 1992, tensions between Brown and Simpson escalated.
06:31He was obsessed with controlling Nicole.
06:33On June 12, 1994, Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were discovered
06:38in the former's L.A. condo, stabbed to death.
06:41The authorities immediately suspected Simpson,
06:44who agreed to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, the day after Brown's funeral.
06:50Instead, Simpson found himself in a 1993 Ford Bronco SUV
06:55with his friend Al Cowlings behind the wheel and the authorities following.
06:59At this point, it's still a fairly laid-back situation,
07:02a dangerous situation at the same time,
07:04because again, the highway patrol does not want to intimidate,
07:09and I repeat, do not want to intimidate this vehicle.
07:11The low-speed chase overshadowed the 1994 NBA Finals
07:15with an armed Simpson allegedly threatening to take his life.
07:18Simpson ultimately surrendered,
07:20while defense attorney Robert Shapiro assembled a dream team.
07:23There has never been in American history more prominent defense lawyers
07:29on a single trial than in the O.J. Simpson case.
07:33O.J.'s counsel included F. Lee Bailey and Robert Kardashian,
07:37the latter of whom had made Simpson godfather to his second-born, Kim.
07:41Johnny Cochran became the face of the defense,
07:44with race developing into a key talking point throughout the trial.
07:47Growing up in America, any African-American will tell you that
07:51we know we have to run faster, jump higher,
07:54work harder to do the same thing anyone else has to do.
07:57With many African-Americans believing Simpson was innocent,
08:00it was feared a guilty verdict could spark another L.A. riot
08:04on the heels of the injustices Rodney King endured.
08:07Nevertheless, Marsha Clark and Christopher Darden,
08:10who replaced William Hodgman as lead prosecutor due to health issues,
08:13felt it was an open-and-shut case.
08:16I have to say, it never mattered to me who the defendant was.
08:18It was a question of who did it.
08:20Whether they're famous, whether they're not famous,
08:22they all get the same treatment.
08:25There was substantial DNA evidence linking Simpson to the crime,
08:29including a trail of blood identified as Simpson's at the crime scene
08:33and blood identified as Brown and Goldman's inside his car.
08:36O.J., we've got sort of a problem.
08:39We've got some blood on and in your car.
08:45We've got some blood at your house.
08:48And it's sort of a problem.
08:51But the defense team highlighted mistakes during evidence collection
08:54and claimed it had been further contaminated in the LAPD crime lab.
08:58They also pointed to the LAPD's history of racial bias,
09:02in particular racist language used by Detective Mark Furman,
09:05who had discovered a bloody right glove at the scene.
09:08They found a flaw in me and then they made up a nexus,
09:13a connection to the flaw to the case.
09:15While DNA evidence was still new,
09:18something that people could easily understand was a glove not fitting,
09:22leading to one of the prosecution's biggest mistakes.
09:25Provoked by Bailey, Darden asked Simpson to try on a pair of bloody gloves.
09:29One recovered from the murder scene
09:31and the other supposedly found behind the accused's guest house.
09:35To Darden's surprise, they seemingly did not fit.
09:38Granted, Simpson was also wearing latex gloves underneath,
09:42while the leather gloves likely shrunk from the blood.
09:44Simpson also could have been exaggerating,
09:47but it was enough to define Cochran's historic closing argument.
09:50It's no disguise. It makes no sense.
09:53It doesn't fit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.
09:58Becoming a media circus, the trial lasted nearly 11 months,
10:02but it only took the jury four hours to deliberate.
10:05The following morning, Simpson was declared not guilty on both counts
10:09in a verdict that was watched by an estimated 95 to 100 million people.
10:14We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant
10:18Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder
10:21in violation of penal code section 187-A, a felony upon Nicole Brown Simpson.
10:27As some rejoiced, a growing majority argued
10:30that Simpson defined getting away with murder.
10:32Simpson was a free man, but his accomplishments in football,
10:36film, and advertising would be an afterthought for the remainder of his life.
10:40Would you describe yourself as relieved? Angry? What?
10:44A little bit of everything.
10:49Beyond the court of public opinion,
10:51Simpson faced further legal issues when Brown's father,
10:53Lou Brown, and Goldman's parents, Fred Goldman and Sharon Ruffo,
10:57filed a civil suit. Found liable,
11:00Simpson was ordered to pay $33.5 million to the victims' families.
11:04And we finally have justice for Ron and Nicole.
11:07Our family is grateful for a verdict of responsibility, which is all we ever wanted.
11:16Although he ultimately only paid a small amount over the next 28 years,
11:21Simpson filed for bankruptcy with many of his possessions being auctioned off,
11:25including his Heisman Trophy.
11:27Simpson provoked further questions around his innocence or guilt
11:30with his 2007 book, If I Did It.
11:32Everybody is more than willing to jump in and play his game
11:38because it's money for him and then it was going to be money for them.
11:43Well, we wanted to put an end to it.
11:46With the civil judgment still unfulfilled,
11:48the book rights eventually went to Goldman's parents,
11:51who shrunk the if and added confessions of the killer.
11:55Simpson continued to clash with the law amid accusations of back taxes,
11:59battery and money laundering.
12:01Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
12:04and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
12:07You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
12:10If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
12:16The authorities caught up to Simpson in September 2007
12:20when he was arrested along with several others in Vegas.
12:23The victim stated that one of the suspects involved in the robbery was O.J. Simpson.
12:30The charges included kidnapping and robbery
12:33and some members of the public saw this as a redo for his murder trial.
12:37This was emphasized by Simpson's hefty sentence of 33 years in prison
12:41without parole for nine years.
12:43O.J. Simpson about to become a free man,
12:47capturing the nation's attention once again.
12:50While Simpson had been a notorious name for over a decade,
12:53his incarceration brought about multiple retrospectives of the 1994 murders,
12:58including the Oscar-winning documentary O.J. Made in America
13:01and the Emmy-winning miniseries The People vs. O.J. Simpson American Crime Story.
13:06Whatever you decide to do, whether you're with me or not, you gotta know this.
13:17I loved her.
13:18While some felt justice was served, Simpson was paroled in 2017.
13:24Over the next seven years, Simpson remained in the zeitgeist,
13:28even being referenced in the trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
13:31The juice is loose.
13:33Less than a month later,
13:34Simpson died at age 76 after living with prostate cancer for nearly a year.
13:39Simpson's life can be divided into two eras, before and after the murders.
13:44Yet the glowing reputation Simpson developed during his heyday
13:47made the past three decades especially shocking and devastating.
13:50But in the end, at least publicly,
13:53O.J. Simpson felt content about his place in the world.
13:58I feel that I got more than most people have,
14:00despite everything that I've gone through.