Controversial football legend Orenthal James Simpson, known as O.J. has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 76 years old.
In a post on X, his family said Simpson died on Wednesday, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
Simpson was a cultural icon who starred both on the football field and in movies and commercials.
Simpson was a role model till 1994 when he was accused of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. In 1995, jurors determined he was not guilty in the stabbing deaths. It was the only thing Americans talked about.
O.J. played at the University of Southern California in the late 1960s. He won the Heisman trophy, as college football’s best player, in 1968.
After graduating from USC, he played 11 seasons in the NFL mostly with the Buffalo Bills. Known as “The Juice,” he collected four rushing titles, played in five Pro Bowls and, in 1973, became the first running back to break the 2,000-yard rushing mark.
O.J. was also an actor. He appeared in several movies in the early 90s as producers were on the hunt for his fame.
In 1994, the bodies of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were found stabbed outside her home in Los Angeles. Not long after, Simpson was arrested and his subsequent “low speed” white Bronco car chase on L.A. freeways was televised nationwide.
The video amassed a huge number of views. After O.J.’s first trial, a different jury determined he was liable in the deaths and ordered him to pay $33 million to the families.
