Sunday night BET Awards 2024 included a solemn “In Memoriam” segment that featured controversial public figure OJ Simpson. The former NFL star died on April 10 aged 76 after a battle with cancer and its inclusion was reportedly an unwelcome surprise to some in attendance.
Aunt Mowry presented the segment as a tribute to the “Black excellence we have sadly lost this year.”
“It’s never easy to say goodbye to those who influence us,” Mowry added, “but we can take a moment to celebrate and recognize their contributions to culture.”
The segment paid tribute to late public figures such as Carl Weathers, Richard Roundtree, Ron Cephas Jones, Louis Gossett Jr., civil rights activist Dexter Scott King, and baseball player Willie Mays.
While the audience applauded as the photos were shown during the montage, Simpson’s image caused “a noticeable hush” over the crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Although there was “some applause”, several people in the audience were visibly “surprised” to see Simpson’s image appear on the screen, with “laughter” erupting from the crowd afterwards.
Described as a “former NFL player” during the broadcast, Orenthal James Simpson is often considered one of the greatest running backs of all time.
He played 11 seasons for the Buffalo Bills and also the San Francisco 49ers. He was the winner of the Heisman Trophy for his time with the USC Trojans and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. Simpson also had a credited acting career, appearing in the critically acclaimed TV miniseries. Rootsand in movies like The Klansman, The Towering Inferno, Cassandra’s Crossing, Capricorn Oneand in all three naked Weapon films, in which he played Detective Nordberg.
However, he was also known for his legal troubles, most notably his arrest in 1994 in connection with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and your friend, Ron Goldman.
The subsequent murder trial is still one of the most widely publicized events in American history. Simpson was represented by the now famous legal team of Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, F. Lee Bailey and Robert Shapiro. They faced the main prosecutor Marcia Clark. On October 3, 1995, Simpson was found not guilty of both murders and acquitted of criminal charges..
However, he was unanimously found responsible for the wrongful death and assault against Goldman and assault against Brown.
In 1997, a jury in a civil trial ordered Simpson to pay $33.5 million, which, with interest over the past 27 years, has grown to more than $100 million.
Simpson was single at the time of his death and left behind four children who were by his side at the time of his death.
From him family confirmed the news in a statement disseminated on social media. “On April 10, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the statement reads. “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”
The family concluded the statement by requesting “privacy and grace.”
Fred Goldman, Ron’s father, criticized Simpson’s inclusion in the BET segment to TMZ“I don’t think they should include anyone of that caliber — a wife abuser, a murderer… I can’t imagine why they would include someone like that,” he told the outlet.
He went on to call it “a slap in the face” to his family and Brown.
Nicole’s sister, Tanya, echoed the sentiment, telling TMZ, “It’s inappropriate to recognize an abuser and a killer. Whoever thought of doing this owes every victim of domestic violence an apology… and that includes our family.
ET spoke to Nicole’s three sisters – Denise, Dominique and Tanya – almost two months after Simpson’s death and ahead of the 30th anniversary of Nicole’s death, during which the trio shared their thoughts on the former athlete’s passing.
“I was sad for the kids, but again, I think it was mixed emotions,” Dominque shared. “It’s complicated. It’s the end of what we were hoping for or it could be the end of a big chapter in our lives. This is someone who’s been in our family for many, many years. I mean, it’s been 50 years or something. Almost 50 years because they were together and then 30 years went by. So, it was complicated. It was confusing. But again, it was very, very sad because now the kids don’t have parents.”
Denise added: “I was really happy. I was happy to hear because we had that kind of relationship, you know, it wasn’t a good relationship from the first time I met him. So when Nicole was happy, I was really happy for her. And that’s all that mattered to me, that Nicole was happy. For me, it was probably a little more tense with the kids because I had come out and spoken about domestic violence and I had spoken about their father. I felt like I had to do this. I had to do this for her. I had to do this for all the other Nicoles that are out there.”
O BET Awards 2024hosted by Taraji P. Hensondisplayed live on BET channel in the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 30th at 8pm ET/PT. check out the full list of winners here.
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