Former NFL star Orenthal James “OJ” Simpson died Wednesday from prostate cancer at age 76, his family announced on Thursday.
Simpson is regarded as one of the greatest NFL running backs of all time. But his NFL legacy was tainted by his arrest for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend on June 14, 1994.
Simpson was accused of fatally stabbing Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman outside her Brentwood townhouse while her children, Sydney and Justin, were asleep inside.
Media outlets celebrated Simpson’s death on Thursday. Headlines referred to him as a “killer” and a “murderer.”
The NY Post‘s front page on Thursday declared “REAL KILLER IS DEAD.”
USA Today wrote: “O.J. Simpson just died. Is it too soon to talk about his troubled past?”
And a headline in The Australian read: “OJ Simpson died a double murderer with no remorse.”
A journalist for The Guardian wrote: “OJ Simpson died the comfortable death in old age that Nicole Brown should have had.”
But, the New York Times sparked outrage for saying Simpson’s legacy was “ruined” by the double-murder charges.
A jury acquitted Simpson of double-murder in 1995. One juror later admitted she believed Simpson was guilty. But she acquitted him as “payback” for the police beating of Rodney King in 1991.
Juror Carrie Bess said 90 percent of the jurors felt that way.
