The legacy of OJ Simpson is cynicism that left many victims in his twisted wake | Opinion

OJ Simpson was spiritually and morally dead long before prostate cancer officially ended his life, on Thursday, at 76. The man whose fame and fortune were so attractive to me as a child of the 1970s was always, at his core, an empty vessel of hubris and cynicism wrapped in a powerful body endowed with the rarest of athletic gifts.

Along with his movie star looks, and his aversion to following the path of Black athletes who spoke frankly about race like Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown, Simpson achieved crossover appeal normally reserved for white personalities.

Opinion

Ironically, a man who darted past cultural gatekeepers because of his thrilling, smiling, and non-threatening public image was ultimately accused, tried, and acquitted of two horrific murders. Simpson’s legacy is cynicism that guided his twisted life and soiled everything he touched. He foreshadowed Trumpism in that Simpson - like former President Donald Trump - was a fraudulent man obsessed with the limelight who inspired worship among blinded followers and left a trail of pain in his wake.

Simpson’s case was the prototype for a 24-news cycle where measured analysis was replaced by provocative hot-takes. The OJ trial demeaned the judicial system and the relationship between police and the communities they are sworn to protect. The discovery phase of Simpson’s trial revealed how, behind the facade, Simpson was an abuser of women, specifically his former wife Nicole, whose death was predicted by members of her family years before it happened in June of 1994, almost 30 years ago.

This man got away with being a wife batterer as many men still do because cops can’t or won’t protect women abused by men and defense lawyers who put the women on trial to protect the men abusing them. Simpson beat the rap for what he did to his wife for years and to this day, in communities like Sacramento, rape kits collect dust in police offices while justice is denied.

Simpson was aided by a collection of sycophants enamored by a celebrity that was as empty as he was. His acquittal brought jubilation, not because people thought he was innocent, but because so many Black men before him had been convinced even though they were innocent and white men - like the cops who viciously beat Rodney King in Los Angeles a few years before - were ruled not guilty. Simpson played the role of a persecuted man of color in his trial, even though his own life was nothing like the image he projected to a sympathetic jury of his peers.

The trial of OJ Simpson lasted so long (11 months) that The Bee sent me to Los Angeles to cover it while a colleague was on vacation. I remember the judge and all the lawyers playing to the cameras. It was a surreal scene where attention seekers sought entrance to the courtroom, not to witness justice, but to make a scene and be noticed.

During the trial, the line between celebrity voyeurism and legal punditry was erased. Prosecutors were undone by their reliance on cops whose racism was shared with jurors who easily connected the dots that Simpson’s legal Dream Team laid out for them. The cops were out to get Simpson, jurors were told. The verdict came quickly. Reasonable doubt achieved an unreasonable verdict.

Simpson had been my favorite NFL football player in my pre-teen years. I went to my first National Football League game in 1978 because I wanted to see him, at the end of his career, as he played out the string with the San Francisco 49ers. He was injured a few weeks before the game I attended, so all I saw was Simpson - in a suit - on the sidelines. At that point, even that was enough for me. He had been electrifying as an athlete. His transition to sports broadcasting was seamless. He starred in films and was a ubiquitous TV pitchman.

More than any athlete of his time, Simpson was embraced by Hollywood and Madison Avenue. He was someone I admired greatly and followed intently. When he was accused of killing his wife nearly 30 years ago, I couldn’t believe it. When he fled from justice and led the police on an infamous low-speed chase across the Los Angeles freeway system, I didn’t want to believe that he had killed his wife and her friend.

When I sat in on his trial, I was convinced he had done it and I haven’t changed my mind all these years later. As a news person, I understand why Simpson’s saga was a titanic story in its time. But, now that Simpson is dead, I feel nothing for the athlete and celebrity who played an outsized role in my formative years.

I’ll go to my grave believing OJ Simpson was a murderer, a liar, a phony and - ultimately - someone who wasn’t deserving of accolades or the benefit of the doubt.