There are few things that intrigue Americans more than O.J. Simpson. Even now, all these years after his trial, our little tails get wagging like Pavlov’s dogs when his name is mentioned. Countless TV and radio hosts have made millions off of Simpson. Entire networks have become powerhouses because of his alleged crimes. And average Americans are always willing to talk about the murder, trial and those involved. O.J. Simpson will forever be the perfect mix of scandal, violence, Hollywood and sports that will draw Americans in. Most everyone despises the man but most everyone is also sucked into his nonsense whenever his head pops into the cultural conversation.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that the folks at ReganBooks wanted to cash in on that interest back in 2006. It was then that they announced If I Did It, a book ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves but accredited to Simpson himself. The book promised to document a “hypothetical description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman”, all from the perspective of O.J. Simpson. You know, if he did it. But remember, according to him he has nothing to do with the murders. But iiiiiiiiiiiiiiif he did, If I Did It would tell you how it all went down.
It was a nauseating idea for a book for sure. Simpson would later say that the book wasn’t his idea, ReaganBooks owner HarperCollins came to him with the project and a huge cash advance. Who was he to say no? To this day, Simpson still swears he is innocent of the murders and that If I Did It was just a way for him to make some money. Okay, O.J., sure.
The idea of If I Did It was immediately met with a fierce backlash from everyone in the media and most if not all Americans. It was a ghoulish, sickening premise and made even more disturbing by the fact that O.J. was paid handsomely for his participation. The same disgust was leveled at Fox, which was planning to broadcast a primetime special also titled If I Did It. The two-night special was going to be an interview between Simpson and publisher Judith Regan. The interview, like the book, would be a rehashing of the atrocious murders, all with Simpson giving commentary about how he would have hypothetically pulled it off. He would get into details about why and when his anger exploded, how Nicole struggled, how bloody the event was. It was going to be an absolutely vile television event.
And — surprise, surprise — people were aghast when Fox announced their intentions. Immediately after it was revealed, over a dozen major Fox affiliates refused to show the special. The outcry was vast and nonstop, sending Fox into a PR nightmare. For her part, Regan said that she decided to do the special as an attempt to find closure after being abused in the past. She released a statement saying “The men who lied and cheated and beat me — they were all there in the room. And the people who denied it, they were there, too. And though it might sound a little strange, Nicole and Ron were in my heart. And for them I wanted him to confess his sins, do penance, and to amend his life. Amen.”
Regan’s defense did little to calm the volcanic anger of the masses. This book and TV special got nothing but pure hatred from people and, like all things Simpson, the scandal became a huge topic of interest for America. Television and the internet were filled with anger at the project. It felt like the mid-90s because people were spouting opinions on Simpson and the murders; the national dialogue was once again crowded with conspiracies and opinions.
Our citizenry was comfortable and perhaps even happy to be fired up about Simpson again. But the protests about the book and TV special were severe and nonstop. Therefore, HarperCollins and Fox announced that both the book and TV event were cancelled on November 20, 2006. The bad press continued, however, when Nicole Brown’s sister, Denise, said Fox attempted to silence the Brown and Goldman family during the scandal. “They wanted to offer us millions of dollars,” she said. “Millions of dollars for, like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry’ money. But they were still going to air the show.” Fox would deny that the amount offered was hush money. But if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. That was, without a doubt, hush money.
The story of If I Did It doesn’t end with the book and show’s cancellations. In 2007, Ron Goldman’s father, Fred, was awarded the rights to the book by a federal judge. Goldman published the book but changed the title to If I Did It: Confession of the Killer and altered the font to make “If” in the title look incredibly small, effectively changing the book’s name to I Did It. It was a clever way to make some money for the Ronald Lyle Goldman Justice Foundation and to further cement O.J. Simpson’s image as a unrepentant murderer.
In 2018, Fox aired O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession? which was a special hosted by Soledad O’Brien featuring the original canceled 2006 interview between Regan and Simpson. People were finally able to see what all the hubbub was about. The special was much more sensitive than the original planned to be. It featured limited commercial breaks and devoted time to PSAs about domestic violence. It was still haunting, though. Simpson started the interview using phrases like “I’d think” and “I would”, maintaining that the entire scenario was hypothetical. But as the interview went on, he began to use wording like “I remember” and “I must have” and “I’m standing there”. Things became decidedly real by interview’s end, causing many to believe that Simpson unknowingly finally admitted to the murders.
O.J. Simpson has been out of the limelight for a few years now. One hopes that the chilling words from O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confessions? will be his last. But if he does indeed speak up again, you can bet the American media and public will once again be intrigued. It’s just what we do.