Former champion athlete and accused murderer OJ Simpson has died in Las Vegas following a battle with cancer. Simpson, whose dramatic acquittal for the double murder of his ex-wife and her friend made international headlines, had previously denied reports that he was receiving hospice care.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” his family said in a statement on Thursday.
“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Considered one of the greatest running backs of all time, Simpson broke multiple records during the 1970s with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, including for the fastest player to gain 2,000 rushing yards in a season, and for the most rushing yards per game in a season.
He transitioned to acting and commentary in the 1980s and 1990s, but his achievements were overshadowed by his arrest in 1994 over the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, that year.
Despite significant DNA evidence linking Simpson to the double murder, he was found not guilty by a predominantly black jury in October 1995. More than 100 million Americans watched the acquittal live on television.
Simpson faced further legal trouble later in life, and was sentenced to 33 years in prison for armed robbery in 2008. He was released on parole in 2017, having served nine years behind bars.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year, Simpson took to social media to dismiss rumors that he was undergoing chemotherapy and had been taken to a hospice, but did not address the diagnosis.
“Hospice? Hospice?” he said in a video statement. “I’m not in any hospice. I don’t know who put that out there.”
Simpson had, in fact, released a statement a year earlier saying that he had “caught cancer” and “had to do the whole chemo thing,” but had “beat it.”