O.J. Simpson on TV: The Notorious Star’s Influence on the Small Screen, From the NFL to the Real Housewives

When O.J. Simpson died of cancer Wednesday, he left behind a long, tumultuous and controversial TV legacy.

Simpson knew both unabashed adoration and extreme revulsion from the public over the course of his career, which was cleaved in two when he was arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman in the mid-1990s. The man who had been a beloved sports star and who had made a seamless transition to TV-and-film personality became a flashpoint for conversations about race, justice, domestic violence and celebrity in America.

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Simpson eventually was found not guilty of the criminal charges, but the trial, and his life and career after it, had ramifications that continue to show up on the small screen today. Seinfeld’s dramatic defense lawyer, Faye Resnick’s involvement in the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, one of Sacha Baron Cohen’s most infamous hidden-camera interviews — all can be traced back to the charges against Simpson and their aftermath.

Below, we’ve tracked Simpson’s TV influence, starting with his days as an acclaimed Buffalo Bills running back. Scroll down to follow along, then let us know your thoughts in the comments.  

The NFL

After a standout college football career at the University of Southern California, Simpson was the Buffalo Bills’ No. 1 pick in the 1969 draft. In 1973, he was the first to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. He left the Bills after nine years and finished his football career with a two-season stint with the San Francisco 49ers.

Hertz Ads

Simpson’s ability to run lightning-fast led to his biggest commercial partnership: with the rental-car company Hertz, which signed him as a spokesman in 1975 while he was still with the Buffalo Bills. Hertz chairman and chief executive Frank Olson was “a cautious businessman and this was a big deal at the time to make a Black man the corporate symbol for what was essentially a white company,” a source at Ted Bates & Co., Hertz’s ad agency at the time, told The Washington Post in 1994. “But Olson knew that people thought of O.J. Simpson as O.J. Simpson, not O.J. Simpson, the Black athlete.” Simpson’s TV “Superstar in rent-a-car” spots were marked by his speed, highlighting Hertz’s ability to quickly cater to its clients; he continued as the face of the company for many years. As Hertz sources told the Post: “There was a nervousness at first, but also an excitement that we were doing something so bold and different,” a former Hertz executive said. “And it was clear that everybody loved O.J.”

Monday Night Football

After retiring from the NFL, Simpson parlayed his deep knowledge of the sport and his on-screen charisma into a spot on ABC’s Monday Night Football. He provided color commentary, working alongside Joe Namath, Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Jim Lampley, over the course of two years in the early 1980s.

Car Chase

Shortly after being charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson got into a white Ford Bronco with friend Al Cowlings and fled police in a 60-mile car chase through the freeways of California’s Orange County and Los Angeles Counties. In the video above, you can watch as CNN interrupts Larry King’s show to run the helicopter footage live; millions watched. Eventually, Cowlings’ communication with the Los Angeles Police Department facilitated Simpson’s return that evening to his home in Brentwood, where police took him into custody.

Murder Trial

The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson unfolded over 11 months, as Simpson’s legal team argued that he was not guilty of committing the fatal stabbings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Prosecutors including Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden pointed to forensic evidence — including a bloody glove found on Simpson’s property — as proof that the former NFL star had killed his ex-wife and her friend. But lawyers for the defense (which included Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro and Alan Dershowitz) cast enough doubt on the evidence and its handling, among other factors, that Simpson was found not guilty on both counts on Oct. 3, 1995.

TV’s inescapable coverage of the trial bumped daytime shows off the schedule for months. The change is widely considered the reason that viewership of soap operas fell off so much that many were cancelled in the years that followed. The trial also provided a bounty of fodder for late-night chatfests like The Tonight Show, which famously mocked Judge Lance Ito with its troupe of Dancing Itos. Cochran’s highly dramatic courtroom presence was lampooned on many shows, as well, including Seinfeld‘s series finale.

American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson

Simpson’s murder trial was dramatized in Season 1 of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Crime Story in 2016.

Based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book The Run of His Life, the series begins on June 13, 1994, the night that many believe the former NFL star (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) stabbed his ex-wife and her boyfriend to death. It continues through Simpson’s arrest and trial, introducing some of the case’s star players — including Marcia Clark (played by Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story), Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance, Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Robert Shapiro (John Travolta, Pulp Fiction) and Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer, Friends) — as the fervor surrounding Simpson’s fate monopolizes the 24-hour news cycle.

The FX series earned a “B+” from TVLine’s Kimberly Roots, who applauded “its ability to build real suspense using moments burned into our national consciousness.” (Read full review.) Its premiere, which debuted on Feb. 2, 2016, earned a reader grade of “A-.” (Read premiere recap.) And, despite the unsurprising outcome of the series finale, the last episode earned a reader grade of “A.” (Read finale recap.)

The anthology went on to examine the assassination of Gianni Versace in Season 2 (2018) and most recently explored the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky saga in Season 3 (2021).

Saturday Night Live

Simpson has long been portrayed on SNL, originating with cast member Tim Meadows who recurred as the disgraced athlete in various sketches throughout the ’90s. In 1995, Meadows notably spoofed Simpson making his Monday Night Football return following his acquittal, where he inadvertently wrote out “I did it” while diagramming a play on-screen. (Watch full sketch.)

During his tenure as host of Weekend Update between 1994 and 1997, Norm MacDonald relentlessly joked about Simpson during and after his murder trial. (Watch compilation.) The jokes became so constant, that MacDonald was reportedly fired from Weekend Update by NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer — who happened to be close friends with Simpson.

In recent years, SNL’s Kenan Thompson has portrayed the murder suspect, including in a 2022 Weekend Update segment where he offered his take on the Oscars slap controversy and a 2020 sketch where he shared an update amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

Simpson himself hosted the NBC late-night show on February 25, 1978, before the infamous murder trial. He was the only living host not invited back to the series for its 25th anniversary celebration.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America?

In the series finale of Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2018 Showtime series Who Is America?, the British comedian interviewed Simpson while impersonating an Italian playboy, Gio Monaldo. During the secretly recorded meeting, Monaldo tries to joke with Simpson about killing his girlfriend, hoping to lure a confession out of Simpson. Simpson laughs off Monaldo’s comments, disputing Monaldo’s claim that he got away with something.

In recent years, however, Simpson’s TV presence has mostly been in the form of docuseries. In 2014, journalist Tony Harris hosted an Investigation Discovery documentary, O.J. Trial of the Century: 25 Years Later, examining Simpson’s trial and the true-crime obsession that later ensued. In 2016, ESPN Films released a five-part documentary, O.J.: Made in America, as part of its 30 for 30 series. A 2018 Fox special, O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession?, featured a 2006 interview with Simpson where he revealed “hypothetical” murder details. In 2020, Court TV debuted OJ25, a 25-part docuseries taking a deep dive into each week of Simpson’s trial.

Reality TV

Faye Resnick, Nicole Brown Simpson’s friend who, in 1994, published Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted amid the media frenzy surrounding the trial, has appeared in various episodes of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. In Season 1, she accompanied longtime pal and cast member Kyle Richards to the Dinner Party From Hell (Episode 9). During the dinner, cast member Camille Grammer memorably called her guest the “morally corrupt Faye Resnick,” alluding to Resnick’s profiting off of the tragedy of her friend by using her publicity to land a spread in Playboy shortly after the murder.

The Kardashians also share a complicated connection with the Simpson trial: The late patriarch Robert Kardashian was part of Simpson’s defense team while matriarch Kris Jenner was a longtime friend of Nicole’s. In recent years, the Kardashians have begun to share more about this connection, fully addressing Nicole’s murder on the 25th anniversary of her death in Season 17, Episode 8 of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. In addition, in 2021, Kim faced criticism for making a joke during her SNL monologue, saying she remembers meeting Simpson because “O.J. does leave a mark, or several, or none at all. I still don’t know.”

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