Former National Football League (NFL) star O.J. Simpson has been confirmed dead at the age of 76.
Simpson, an American broadcaster, died of cancer, his family announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.
A post on Simpson’s verified X account on Thursday read: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
“During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Simpson’s prostate cancer diagnosis was made public about two months ago, Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement.
The Hall of Fame player had received chemotherapy treatment.
While Simpson was a highly decorated athlete – winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy as a senior running back at the University of Southern California before playing for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and later the San Francisco 49ers – he became one of the most controversial figures of the late 20th century after he was charged with the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
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A jury found him not guilty in a trial that saw America’s fascination with celebrity collide with its centuries-long struggle with race, as well as issues of class, policing and criminal justice.
Those themes – and the judge’s decision to allow the trial to be televised – coalesced in what many called a “Trial of the Century” that held the country’s attention in a vise grip for nearly nine months before evolving into a cultural touchstone.
In 1997, another jury unanimously deemed Simpson liable for Brown Simpson’s and Goldman’s wrongful deaths in a civil lawsuit brought by Goldman’s family and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages.
Simpson maintained his innocence. But by 2016, polling showed most Americans believed he was guilty.
Simpson eventually ended up behind bars in an unrelated case, serving nine years of a sentence of up to 33 years following his conviction on charges related to a 2007 armed robbery in Las Vegas in which he and others tried to steal at gunpoint of what Simpson said were pieces of his own sports memorabilia.
He was granted parole in 2017, telling the Nevada parole board: “I’ve done my time. I’ve done it as well and as respectfully as I think anyone can.”
Recently, Simpson revived his idol-scale notoriety on X, where he frequently posted videos with his thoughts on football and politics for his nearly 900,000 followers.
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