What Was O.J. Simpson’s Connection to the Kardashians?
There was no point out of O.J. Simpson on Kim Kardashian’s Instagram web page on Thursday.
Early that morning, she posted a video selling a hoodie and bike shorts from Skims, the clothes firm she co-founded. Later within the day, after the Simpson household introduced that Mr. Simpson had died of most cancers at age 76, Ms. Kardashian was silent on social media.
Over the a long time, her household had distanced itself from the person who performed a major function in propping up the Kardashian title.
Kim’s father, Robert Kardashian, met Mr. Simpson by their ties to the College of Southern California in Los Angeles. Mr. Kardashian earned a enterprise diploma there in 1966, and Mr. Simpson was a star working again for the varsity in 1967 and 1968.
The 2 grew to become shut within the Seventies, when Mr. Simpson was a standout within the Nationwide Soccer League and Mr. Kardashian was a rising lawyer and entrepreneur in Los Angeles. His companies included leisure properties and a frozen yogurt firm.
When Mr. Kardashian married the previous Kris Houghton (now Kris Jenner) in 1978, Mr. Simpson served as his finest man. The couple had 4 kids — Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Robert Jr. The wedding resulted in divorce in 1991. That very same 12 months, Ms. Jenner married the previous Olympian who now goes by Caitlyn Jenner.
Mr. Simpson met Nicole Brown in 1977, when he was nonetheless married to his first spouse. Throughout a separation from his spouse, he lived for a time with Mr. Kardashian at his residence, Mr. Simpson wrote in his 2007 guide, “If I Did It.”
Mr. Simpson and Ms. Brown married in 1985 and divorced in 1992. Mr. Kardashian remained pals with Mr. Simpson all through these years, and his spouse grew to become shut with Ms. Brown Simpson.
In 1994, Mr. Kardashian signed on as a member of the so-called dream crew that defended Mr. Simpson when he was charged with murdering his former spouse and her pal Ronald Goldman.
Mr. Kardashian’s continued assist of Mr. Simpson was a supply of pressure within the household, Kim Kardashian mentioned in a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone. She sided along with her father, she mentioned, whereas her mom believed that Mr. Simpson was responsible.
Mr. Kardashian was with Mr. Simpson when the police questioned him at his Los Angeles residence on the day after Ms. Brown Simpson was discovered lifeless in entrance of her home after having been stabbed a number of instances.
Because the police moved towards charging Mr. Simpson within the double murder, the lawyer Robert Shapiro was employed to guide his protection. The crew additionally got here to incorporate the lawyer Johnnie Cochran.
Mr. Shapiro added Mr. Kardashian as counsel, although he would don’t have anything to do with authorized technique, in accordance with Jeffrey Toobin, whose protection of the trial for The New Yorker yielded a guide, “The Run Of His Life, The Individuals v. O.J. Simpson.”
“Kardashian had completely no authorized perform,” Mr. Toobin mentioned in a telephone interview on Thursday. “He was there solely to coddle O.J.”
He continued: “Bob Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran had precise jobs to do. They didn’t have the time to deal with O.J.’s garments and his telephone privileges in jail. All that fell to Kardashian.”
Even earlier than the fees have been filed, Mr. Kardashian appeared to leap into the function with gusto. With digicam crews outdoors Mr. Simpson’s home, a hide-out was wanted. He bought one at Mr. Kardashian’s residence on Bundy Drive within the Brentwoodneighborhood of Los Angeles.
After the fees have been filed, Mr. Simpson fled Mr. Kardashian’s home in a Ford Bronco, together with his pal and former teammate Al Cowlings. Mr. Simpson reportedly held a gun to his head and was threatening to kill himself as he led police on a surreal, nationally televised slow-speed automobile chase.
Because it transpired, Mr. Kardashian gave a information convention during which he learn from a letter Mr. Simpson had left behind. It appeared like a suicide notice. In keeping with Mr. Toobin, Mr. Kardashian “made it sound much more grammatical than it really was.” In the course of the prolonged trial, Mr. Kardashian was on the protection desk day by day, regardless of his restricted function.
His ex-wife gave start to a daughter, Kendall Jenner, on Nov. 3, 1995, a month Mr. Simpson’s acquittal. In tribute to her pal, Kris Jenner gave the newborn the center title Nicole.
Mr. Kardashian was a supply for the 1996 guide “American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Protection” by Lawrence Schiller and James Willwerth. Due to his cooperation with the authors, Mr. Kardashian and Mr. Simpson reportedly stopped talking to every one other.
In a 1996 interview with Barbara Walters of ABC Information, Mr. Kardashian said that he had come to query Mr. Simpson’s innocence. “I’ve doubts,” he mentioned. “The blood proof is the largest thorn in my facet; that causes me the best issues. So I wrestle with the blood proof.”
“I by no means admired that,” Mr. Toobin mentioned. “Both you’re his lawyer or not. It’s not your job to take a position publicly about whether or not or not he’s responsible. However I believe Bob understood that in his West L.A. world, O.J. was thought of by principally everybody to be responsible, and he didn’t need to be out of step with that consensus.”
Mr. Kardashian died at 59 in 2003 of most cancers. His ties to Mr. Simpson have been a spotlight of his Related Press obituary.
Caitlyn Jenner, who was an everyday on “Retaining Up With the Kardashians,” the E! sequence that made the Kardashians stars, was the one member of the clan who weighed in on social media regarding Mr. Simpson.
“Good Riddance #OJSimpson,” she wrote on the X platform.
