Former NFL star OJ Simpson is being remembered for the way his trial divided and changed America. Video / NZ Herald / Getty
O.J. Simpson’s children were made to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in the days leading up to his death, it has been claimed.
According to the celebrity website TMZ, NDAs were required of his entire family, including two children, Sydney, 38, and Justin, 35, he had with Nicole Brown Simpson.
Nicole was Simpson’s ex-wife whom he was accused of murdering, along with her friend, Ron Goldman, in June 1994. He was later acquitted in the “trial of the century” a year later.
The infamous "bloody gloves" were a key piece of DNA evidence in the prosecution's case against O.J. Simpson in the double-murder trial. Photo / AP
In 1997, he was found liable for their deaths in a civil case and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to their families.
TMZ reported that Simpson’s family had been warned of his approaching death, described to relatives as a “transition”, a week prior and that 30-50 people visited him in his last days.
It is not clear what the alleged NDA covered, but it may explain why the death of the 76-year-old, who had prostate cancer, came as a surprise to those outside his circle of immediate family and friends.
International coverage
The death of the NFL great and double-murder suspect sparked international media coverage and a renewed focus on his murder trial, in which prosecutors famously failed to conclusively tie a bloody glove found at the crime scene to him.
In a since-corrected obituary, the LA Times erroneously reported that it was Donald Trump, not Simpson, who was released from prison in 2017 after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence for his part in a sports memorabilia heist.
“Long before the city woke up on a fall morning in 2017, Trump walked out of Lovelock Correctional Center outside Reno, a free man for the first time in nine years,” the obituary originally read.
Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame running back O.J. Simpson with fans prior to an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, October 31, 2021. Photo / AP
The mistake, later described as a “typographical error” in an editor’s note, triggered accusations of purposeful wishful-thinking or that of a subconscious kind.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss posted on X: “Freud lives.”
The White House’s reaction to Simpson’s death also raised eyebrows.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, told reporters: “Our thoughts are with his families during this difficult time, obviously with his family and loved ones.”
She added: “I know they have asked for some privacy and so we’re going to respect that. I’ll just leave it there.”
However, she made no mention of Nicole Brown Simpson or Goldman.
