It’s all over the news today that OJ Simpson is getting $3.5 million to write a book about how he savagely murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. It seems as though publisher Judith Reagan, Harper Collins, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch are to blame for making this happen. A two-part interview with Simpson, in which he talks about how (he suspects) the murders (probably) went down, is scheduled to run on Fox News November 27 and 29. And, the book is expected to hit stores on the 30th, just in time for the holiday shopping season. (I’m imagining tasteful cardboard cutouts of a smiling, knife-wielding Simpson with some kind of a “And now I’m slashing prices” banner.)
I’m not surprised that Simpson would try to cash in this way, but I suspect there’s more to it than just greed. It seems as though, in large part, this might be motivated by his need to further taunt the father of Ron Goldman, the man who has been pursuing him through the American justice system for these past dozen years. (Speaking of Goldman’s father, one wonders how Simpson has structured this deal to keep the money from going to the families of his victims, who, given the verdict of the civil trial, would have claim to most of it. If Fox and Harper Collins have in any way conspired, whether it be through off-shore accounts, shell corporations, etc, to help keep money from the families of Simpson’s victims, then those companies should be systematically dismantled and sold for scrap, and their executives should be run out of town on a rail. It’s bad enough they’re giving the man a platform from which to gloat. Making it possible for him to also profit financially, in violation of the law, is absolutely inexcusable… We need to find a journalist willing to follow the money.)
Hopefully the online community comes together quickly to share the text of the book via the web so that there’s no demand for the book itself.
I could write about this for hours, but I’ve got other things to do…
4 Comments
“Hey kids, now that you’re both over 18 years old I’ve decided it’s time I write a book detailing how I MIGHT HAVE brutally murdered your momma and her boyfriend. Wait, why are you crying?”
http://news.pajamasmedia.com/entertainment/2006/09/25/11013540_Michigander_join.shtml
The guy in the article that made all the footage of OJ lives in Michigan. He wanted to edit the material and make a reality show out of it. The Goldmans filed for publicity rights because they still have not received the amount awarded to them from the civil suit.
Pardo’s smart ass lawyer is an old friend of mine.
In another ten years, you’ll be able to pay $10 to have OJ jump out from behind a tree and jab at you with a rubber knife.
Is it really worth a journalists time to follow this money trail? I think journalists have more important jobs they should be doing (and usually are not). We should all ignore this in the hope that it just goes away and they all lose money on this venture. It’s disgusting.