Nearly 30 years after O.J. Simpson’s acquittal in the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, New Yorkers remained as outspoken now about his life as they were back then.
Jane Rose, who lives on the Upper East Side, remembers being in college and watching the Simpson murder trial religiously on television.
“I think his life was a tragedy of his own making,” Rose, 65, said on Thursday, a day after Simpson died of prostate cancer at the age of 76. “I believe he was guilty, you know, so I couldn’t applaud the fact that he was acquitted. I mean, two people were dead.”
Simpson, a popular crossover TV pitchman and broadcaster after his playing days, was famously acquitted in 1995 in the double-murder knife deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Both were found stabbed to death outside of Brown’s Brentwood home on June 12, 1994.
Their deaths, Simpson’s celebrity and the so-called “Trial of the Century” set the stage for a real-life reality television drama with Simpson in the role of a Black man accused of killing two white people.
“There was a very big racial thing involved,” Rose said, looking back. “It was a very touchy time.”
Retired lawyer Hyman Silverglad said he had no problem separating the Hall of Fame football player from the man he thinks dodged two murder raps.
“He was a role-model football player, but he wasn’t a role-model human in general,” said Silverglad, 92, who lives on the Upper East Side.
“O.J. Simpson was a murderer. He killed his estranged wife — an innocent woman — and her friend. … He thought she was having an affair with this man and thought it was a blot on his grandeur as a football star.
“He belongs in a garbage can. He does not belong as a role model for American children. He should be dishonored.”
But did he do it?
“Probably,” said Alejandro Mendoza, 56, who lives in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. “This guy was popular, with money. Money could do anything. I couldn’t say, I’m not even sure if he did it or not. But he really got a chance because he had money. If I did something like that, I probably wouldn’t have a chance.”
Bernie Heevedo of Sunset Park wasn’t shedding any tears, either.
“He went through hell, but he can’t complain,” said Heevedo, 65. “He had a good life. … Then he went to jail for stupid s–t. I think he did [it], and he got away with it.”
Mayo Wilson, 66, a porter from Harlem, prefers to remember the legendary football star.
“It’s not my place to judge,“ he said. “In fact, it’s nobody’s place to judge. We don’t know what happened with his ex-wife, Nicole, and that man, Ron. O.J. was acquitted. O.J. Simpson was one of the greatest football players ever. He ranks with Jim Brown and Joe Namath. He’s a legend. He should remembered for that greatness.”
But Deanna Corleon, 45, of Harlem, said she wasn’t ready to forgive him, not even in death.
“There is no expiration on disrespect,” Corleon said. “O.J. got to see his children grow up. Nicole did not. Karma comes back. And God sees everything.”
