OJ Simpson, ex-US footballer acquitted of wife’s murder, dies at 76

OJ Simpson, the former National Football League star who was acquitted of the murder of his wife and her friend, has died after battling cancer, according to a statement by his family on his X account.

The post said that he died on Wednesday, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

Simpson was acquitted by a Los Angeles jury, in what was termed as the “trial of the century,” after he was found not guilty of the death of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles in 1994.

One of the most popular athletes in 1960s and 1970s, the former NFL star served nine years in prison in Nevada after he was convicted on 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint from a hotel in Las Vegas in 2008.

Nicknamed “The Juice,” Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 after a great career in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.

Simpson also pursued a career as a sports presenter and a Hollywood actor before he was accused of murdering his wife and her friend in 1994.

Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her home in Los Angeles on June 12 in 1994. Simpson was ordered to surrender to the police, but he fled in his white Ford Bronco with a former teammate, five days after the murders. A police chase ensued, which ended at Simpson’s mansion and he was charged of the murders.

Spanning a period of 11 months, Simpson’s trial was one of the most infamous trials in the US, with even the then US president Bill Clinton leaving the Oval Office and watching the verdict on his secretary’s television.

Several movies and documentaries have been made on Simpson, including the 2016 Oscar-winning documentary “O.J.: Made in America”.