Great Moments in Criminal Justice

November 15, 2006

O.J. to discuss killings of wife, friend in TV interview

“O.J. Simpson, in his own words, tells for the first time how he would have committed the murders if he were the one responsible for the crimes,” the network said in a statement. “In the two-part event, Simpson describes how he would have carried out the murders he has vehemently denied committing for over a decade.”

The interview will air days before Simpson’s new book, “If I Did It,’’ goes on sale Nov. 30. The book, published by Regan, “hypothetically describes how the murders would have been committed.”

In a video clip on the network’s Web site, an off-screen interviewer says to Simpson, “You wrote, ‘I have never seen so much blood in my life.’ ”

“I don’t think any two people could be murdered without everybody being covered in blood,” Simpson responds.

I guess he must really need the money. This is going to be a repugnant, undignified spectacle, and not in a fun way. The worst/best part about it is how the title of the book (“If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened”) fails to even clearly state that O.J. isn’t responsible for the killings—which is strange, since if I killed two people and lied about it for years (sometimes under oath), I wouldn’t suddenly have any qualms about lying in print. Why not just go with “If I Had Done It, Here’s How It Would Have Happened”? Well, I think we all know the answer, but it’s just too depressing to think about any more.

I hate to channel Aaron Sorkin, but is there no level of indecency so outrageous that even a television executive will draw the line? I know this is Fox we’re talking about here, but even so, this is pretty disgusting. I wonder if we have the makings of another civil case here.

At any rate, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Fox will never actually air this. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

More from the Washington Post.

Posted in Politics/Law, Television