OJ Simpson is dead – Dagsavisen

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By Nils-Inge Kruhaug

Orenthal James Simpson was indicted in 1994 for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, but was acquitted after what many have called “the trial of the century” in the United States.

Former football star and actor OJ Simpson has died, aged 76. This picture is from the trial in 1994, where he was acquitted of stabbing his ex-wife and her new friend. (Reuters/NTB)

In 2008, he was sentenced to 33 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, with the possibility of parole after nine years.

It happened after he stormed a hotel room with five others and assaulted two men they accused of stealing collectibles from Simpson’s 1970s football career.

He was released in 2017 and then settled in Las Vegas.

The family announced on Thursday that he lost his battle against cancer, which he himself mentioned for the first time in 2023.

– He died surrounded by his children and grandchildren, writes the family on X.

Star player

In the 1970s, Simpson became famous as a star player in American football.

He was considered one of the best and most dominant running backs ever, first on USC’s college team, where he won the prestigious Heisman Trophy, and later for ten years in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.

OJ Simpson was considered one of the best and most dominant running backs ever in American football. (AP)

After his football career, he had roles in a number of Hollywood films and TV series, and for many years he was also a key figure in the advertising campaigns of the car rental company Hertz.

Divided the United States

When Simpson was arrested in 1993 after a long televised car chase, and subsequently charged with double murder, it revealed a deep racial divide in the United States.

The acquittal for the knife murders of his ex-wife and her friend was met with disbelief by many Americans. But there were even more whites than blacks who thought the former football star was guilty.

In a civil lawsuit, he was later ordered to pay $33.5 million in restitution to the two victims’ families.

Books and TV series

OJ Simpson married Marguerite Whitley in 1967. The couple had two sons, but one of them drowned and died in a swimming pool in 1979, the same year the parents divorced.

in 1985 he married Brown, and they also had two children together, sons Justin and Sydney. That marriage ended in divorce in 1992.

OJ Simpson’s life and career have been the subject of a number of books and TV series, including the eight-hour documentary “OJ: Made in America” ​​and the mini-series “The People v. OJ Simpson”.

Also read: Shot and killed with his son (12) as a witness