O.J. Simpson, the former football star who was accused and eventually acquitted of the gruesome 1994 murders of his ex-wife and her friend, has died, according to his family. He was 76.
"Our father, Orenthal James Simpson, passed away on April 10th, after a fight with cancer. He was surrounded by his kids and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family requests that you respect their wishes for privacy and grace," according to a family statement.
In May 2023, Simpson shared a video on X, then known as Twitter, saying that he had recently "caught cancer" and "had to do the whole chemo thing." He went on, "It looks like I beat it." Simpson did not reveal the nature of the malignancy.
Then in February 2024, a Las Vegas television station reported that Simpson, then 76, was again undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer.
Simpson himself posted a video on X that day, denying rumors that he was in hospice care, though he did not otherwise confirm or deny reports that he was ill.
Two days later in another video update on X, Simpson thanked those people he said had reached out to him, adding "My health is good. I mean, obviously I'm dealing with some issues but I think I'm just about over it."
Simpson, nicknamed "The Juice," broke records as a college and professional football player, and extended his celebrity and fortune as a sportscaster, a movie and television actor, and as a corporate spokesman, most notably for Hertz rental cars.
All of that changed on June 12, 1994, when Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were viciously stabbed to death outside the former's home in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
Within days, authorities declared their intention to charge the former football star with the killings.
Five days after the killings, 95 million Americans watched as Simpson's white Ford Bronco, driven by longtime friend Al Cowlings and with Simpson in the back seat with a handgun, threatening suicide, led police on a two-hour televised chase through Los Angeles.
Simpson eventually surrendered to authorities and faced prosecution for the killings. Simpson was acquitted in October 1995, 11 months after jury selection, in a trial that became an international phenomenon.
Simpson was arrested twelve years later, in September 2007, after leading a gang of men into a Las Vegas hotel and casino and stealing, at gunpoint, what he claimed was his personal sports memorabilia.
Simpson was charged with several felony offenses, including kidnapping and armed robbery. He was found guilty and received a sentence of up to 33 years in jail. Simpson was released on parole on October 1, 2017.
O.J. is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason, from his first marriage, and Sydney and Justin, from his marriage to Nicole Brown Simpson.