The recent news of O.J. Simpson’s death has reignited conservations about the controversial case along with its broader implications on race relations and the justice system. Amid reactions from many figures in the media, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith weighed in on the 1995 acquittal of Simpson, voicing his belief that the former NFL star committed the crime.
Simpson died last week following a battle with cancer. “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” Simpson’s family shared on media. “During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Simpson led a successful career in the NFL during the 70s before transitioning to acting and sports broadcasting. However, in 1994, he was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. A jury ultimately acquitted O.J. in 1995, but skepticism toward this ruling still remains to this day, given the evidence that was presented in the case.
Calling into ESPN’s “First Take,” the famous broadcasting personality Stephen A. Smith gave his unfiltered opinion on the Simpson and his former case. According to Smith, Simpson’s reputation is has been smeared by the murder charges.
“There’s no balance to it. You can remember and you can engage in recall by bringing up his athletic prowess and his tremendous career as a football player,” Smith stated. “But it all pales in comparison to him being perceived as a double murderer.
Smith continued describing how O.J. is most associated with the murder case instead of his impressive sports career. “When you think about O.J. Simpson, you may remember that he’s a football player, but what you remember most is the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. And you think, obviously, of him. There’s no way around that.”
The ESPN further claimed that “most people” believe Simpson was guilty of committing the murders despite what the jury determined. Smith emphasized that he believes O.J. was guilty, adding that if he were on the jury, he would have been “under the damn jail.”
"*" indicates required fields
“This is what it comes down to. Most people believe that he committed those murders,” Smith said. “I know that if I was on the jury, he would have been under the damn jail. I know that much. I believed he was guilty, but I don’t know. I’m talking about based on the evidence that was placed before us during the trial overseen by Judge Lance Ito.” Watch Smith’s call on “First Take” below:
“This is what we saw on national television and by most accounts, you found yourself believing he was guilty though. And in the end, that’s what this comes down to. Again, you don’t want to say that devoid of a level of heightened level of sensitivity on this particular day towards his family who is innocent of all of that stuff. They have nothing to do with it. They can’t control his actions, but based on his actions that we all witnessed on trial over national television for months upon months time, by and large the belief is, he’s guilty so you’re not going to hear the North Sea and abundance of people feeling a lot of sympathy for him. today. You know, the Lord will deal with them,” Smith concluded.
Featured image credit: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_A._Smith_(34462554722).jpg