OJ Simpson awkwardly joked about “coming clean” just weeks before his death in one of his final podcast appearances.
The football legend and acquitted murderer made the comment on an episode of the ‘It Is What It Is’ podcast, after he was asked about Shaquelle O’Neal stating that ‘men shouldn’t open up to women (because) they’ll use it’ . Against them.’
“When you say ‘open up to women,’ I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Simpson said with a smile. ‘Is she talking about confessing? So no, man, don’t confess.
The joke sparked raucous laughter among the podcast’s hosts, however, many saw it from a different perspective and felt he was “mocking” the murders for which he was found civilly responsible.
In one of his last podcast appearances before his death, OJ Simpson awkwardly joked about “confessing” and commented that he had “lying eyes.”
Simpson (pictured at his 1995 trial) became one of America’s most infamous figures after being accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
Simpson was later found civilly liable for the murders of Ron Goldman (left) and Nicole Brown (right) and ordered to pay their families $33.5 million.
The podcast clip resurfaced after Simpson’s death on Thursday at age 78, as people commented on his strange antics in the years after the murders, including satirically pretending to stab a news anchor in 1998.
In the podcast clip, a host first asked Simpson what he thought about Shaq’s claim that women would ‘use him against (men)’ if they opened up to them.
Simpson leaned toward the screen and smiled as he made the “confess” joke, adding, “I think he’s right.”
‘Do not say anything. It was your lying eyes. So leave me out of the confessions… You all have to leave me out of this one.’
The podcast hosts saw the funny side and laughed for about a minute while appearing surprised that the accused killer would make that comment.
‘Yoo, oh no, there is no confession,’ said one of the presenters, laughing. ‘No confession… oh my god, this is classic.’
However, after the clip resurfaced following Simpson’s death, some felt that his jokes about the murders were in poor taste, as many still believed that his 1995 acquittal for the murders of his wife and her friend was a judicial error.
“It was really surprising how OJ over the years made fun of what he supposedly did,” one viewer tweeted.
‘Even near the end of life I still laugh and joke as if it were a joke and not the end of two people’s lives. Juice, writing a book called “If I Did It” in 2007. It just blows my mind.’
The comment was in reference to Simpson’s controversial 2006 book ‘If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer’, where he describes how he would have killed his wife Nicole Brown and his friend Ron Goldman if he had.
Following Simpson’s death, his flippant attitude toward the murders and constant antics attracted increased scrutiny, including a lurid video of OJ Simpson pretending to stab Ruby Wax in a 1998 BBC interview.
Simpson sparked even more outrage when, more than a decade after the murders, he published a book titled “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.”
Others commented: ‘That’s twisted. It’s not fun.’
‘Two innocent people murdered but you all think this is funny!?’ commented another. ‘Twisted and sick from the mouth of him whom he handed over to those who laughed. RIP Nicole and Ronald.’
Equally bizarre clips of Simpson’s antics swept the Internet following news of his death on Thursday, notably a clip of him pretending to stab journalist Ruby Wax in 1998.
That year, he was found civilly liable for stabbing his ex-wife and her friend to death in 1995, and was ordered to pay their families $33.5 million.
But when he sat down for an interview with the BBC, Wax commented that he was “the most complicated character in the world”, while showing a behind-the-scenes look at Simpson playing a “prank” on him.
“When we finished filming, Simpson told me he had a surprise for me, and I was really surprised,” Wax said. “I think it was his idea of a joke.”
In a bizarre video clip, Simpson pretends to stab Wax with a banana while making a screeching sound while smiling at the camera.
Wax later claimed that Simpson called her on April 1 and told her, “I killed her, April Fools’ Day!”
OJ Simpson pictured in a mugshot following his arrest in Los Angeles, California, in June 1994.
Simpson rose to prominence as a running back who played 11 seasons, nine with the Buffalo Bills.
Ron Goldman’s father Fred broke his silence following OJ’s death, saying it is “yet another reminder of the loss of my son.”
Following the news of Simpson’s death, some of those who knew him expressed relief after the infamous celebrity and alleged double murderer disappeared.
Caitlin Jenner, who was married to Kris Jenner when her best friend Nicole Brown was murdered with Goldman, tweeted in response to the news: “Good Riddance.”
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Ron Goldman’s father Fred said the former NFL legend’s passing is “yet another reminder of the loss of my son.”
“The only thing I have to say today is that this is yet another reminder of the loss of my son Ron,” Fred told DailyMail.com.
‘It is yet another reminder of my son’s murder and of the many years we have missed Ron.
‘His death is a reminder that Ron and Nicole were murdered by him. I’m not going to react to my thoughts about his death.
He concluded: ‘I have nothing to say about him. My answer will not be about OJ’s death but about the loss of my son’s life because of him.’