Did O.J. Confess To Murder? CrimeFeed Recaps Bizarre 'Lost Confession' Interview
O.J. Simpson [Fox (screenshot)]
Did O.J. Simpson really confess to double murder in the “lost” interview tapes?
Prosecutor Christopher Darden said that he believes O.J. Simpson “confessed” to the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in his 2006 TV interview with publisher Judith Regan.
Darden was featured on the special “O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession?” as part of a panel of experts who added commentary in addition to the interview with Simpson, which aired on Fox last night. In the slightly surreal interview, Soledad O’Brien asked Simpson about the night when his ex-wife and Goldman were murdered in 1994.
Simpson, who was controversially acquitted of the murders in 1995, stated repeatedly that he was going through a “purely hypothetical” version of the evening. During the interview, Simpson talks about a friend he called “Charlie.” “Charlie came by and mentioned something about what was going on at her house,” Simpson said, “He told me, ‘You wouldn’t believe what was going on over there,’ and I remember thinking that whatever’s going on over there has got to stop.”
Simpson also talked about what could have happened when he encountered Nicole and Ron.
“This guy kind of got into a karate thing, and I said, ‘Well, you think you can kick my ass?’ and I remember I grabbed a knife. I do remember that portion, taking the knife from Charlie, and to be honest, after that I don’t remember, except I’m standing there and there’s all kind of stuff around.”
“What kind of stuff?” O’Brien asks, and Simpson responds, “Blood and stuff around,” before breaking into bizarre laughter and once again stating, “I hate to say this, but this is hypothetical!”
Simpson, in the interview, details what he describes as reports from friends that Nicole had become involved in drugs and “sex parties” with her group of friends. He tells Regan that he blames Nicole’s death on the unsavory people he claims she associated with — and, once again, talks about the suffering the murders have caused for him personally.
“Ron and Nicole were physically dead, and it’s almost like they killed me — who I was was attacked and murdered also in that short period of time.”
The interview was originally conducted in 2006 by Judith Regan during the publicity push for the book If I Did It, in which Simpson allegedly hypothetically explained how he would have murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman — if he had.
Fox declined to air the interview in 2006 following public outrage about the book, which was initially shelved — but was later published with proceeds to go to the Goldman family as part of a verdict in the family’s civil lawsuit against Simpson.
If I Did It cover art [Amazon]
Regan told the show panel that the interview “absolutely” convinced her that he was the murderer, according to Variety.
Fox ran a public-service announcement for the National Domestic Violence Hotline during each commercial break in the two-hour special. Few blue-chip advertisers sponsored the program.
Fox executives maintain that they made the decision to air the 2006 interview footage after receiving the approval of Nicole Brown-Simpson’s family and the Goldman family.
Simpson later served nine years in a Nevada prison following an armed robbery conviction in connection with a 2007 incident in Las Vegas. He was paroled in October.
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