OJ Hush Money?

November 21, 2006

OJ Simpson had these big plans to go on the television with Judith Regan. They were going to discuss how OJ would have killed his wife and her boyfriend, “If he did it.” They threw a book together, and started shopping for houses. Oh, the money they were going to make by pandering to the American public’s need for blood and spectacle.

And then, yesterday, the shocking news came from Rupert Murdoch, over at Fox, that the show and the book were being shut down. Because the whole thing is in bad taste.

''I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project,'' said Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns both Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins. ''We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.''

As for those families? Well, according to the AP, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister, Denise, stated on NBC’s “Today” show that News Corp offered her family money to keep quiet about the interview.

''They wanted to offer us millions of dollars. Millions of dollars for, like, 'Oh, I'm sorry' money. But they were still going to air the show,'' Brown said. ''We just thought, 'oh my god.' What they're trying to do is trying to keep us quiet, trying to make this like hush money, trying to go around the civil verdict, giving us this money to keep our mouths shut.''

A spokesman for News Corp., owner of Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins, confirmed that the company had conversations with representatives of Nicole Brown Simpson's and Ron Goldman's families over the past week and that the families were offered all profits from the planned Simpson book and television show, but he denied that it was hush money.

''There were no strings attached,'' News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher said.

HarperCollins spokeswoman Erin Crum said some copies of Simpson’s book, “If I Did It” had already been shipped to stores but would be recalled, and all copies would be destroyed.