O.J. Simpson remains a great news media quote-machine, even after his highly hyped book deal and two part Fox interview specials were nixed by News Corp’s Higher Power, Rupert Murdoch himself.
And Simpson provides quotes galore. He told the AP the book was admittedly “blood money” but that he is innocent:
O.J. Simpson told The Associated Press he participated in the ill-fated “If I Did It” book and interview project for one reason — personal profit, and he acknowledged that any financial gain was “blood money.
“This was an opportunity for my kids to get their financial legacy,” Simpson said in interviews this week with the AP after the book deal was abandoned by its publisher. “My kids understand. I made it clear that it’s blood money, but it’s no different than any of the other writers who did books on this case.”
Oops! Did we miss something in the trial? Were there other defendents on trial for murder and they were the ones who wrote books saying IF they did it this is how they would have done it?
(Note to the Happy Dreams Hotel in Oriskiny Falls, New York: I will send you a hypothetical email titled “If I Took The Towels And TV Remote Out Of The Room” detailing what I did how I might have done it..)
In a radio interview Wednesday, Simpson said the project was not a confession.
“I made it clear from the first day I met the writer that I wasn’t involved,” Simpson said on Miami’s WTPS-AM. “I said, ‘I have nothing to confess.'”
Goldman’s family, meanwhile, asked News Corp. to turn over its rights to the now-canceled book and interview, an attorney said Wednesday.
In two AP telephone interviews this week from his Florida home, Simpson declined to say how much of an advance he received for the book but said it was less than the $3.5 million that had been reported. He said the money has already been spent, including some he used to meet tax obligations.
Simpson said he was convinced the book would have been a best-seller.
“My kids would have been coming into a lot of money,” he said, adding he desperately needs the cash because his retirement funds are dwindling.
And, indeed, it is hard when you’ve used up a lot of money hunting relentlessly for your wife’s real killer on the best golf courses throughout the country. MORE:
Simpson said he deserved the harsh criticism for his role in the project, although he complained that News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch appears to be getting off easy.
“I’m taking heat and I deserve it,” Simpson said. “But Murdoch should not be taking the high road either.”
To be sure, the words “Murdoch” and “the high road” are not usually found in the same sentence, unless the high road leads to a bank.
Meanwhile, he didn’t have loving words for his ex-publisher Judith Regan, either:
Publisher Judith Regan has portrayed the book as representing “O.J.’s confession,” and it reportedly contains a chapter where he explains how he could have committed the killings.
But the former football star says he didn’t commit the murders. He said was disappointed by Regan’s portrayal of the book, which he said was ghostwritten: “I thought, ‘This lady probably thinks I did it and I didn’t.'”
Simpson said he told a representative of the publisher that he would not allow the book’s publication if it contained any graphic descriptions of “cutting or stabbing.”
NOTE TO O.J.: We are (quite honestly) convinced that your book will eventually leak out, be picked up by another publisher or be run online.
So in advance we must state: we decline to run it as a Guest Voice post on The Moderate Voice.
But we sincerely wish you luck searching for your wife’s real killer in America’s finest jacuzzis.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.