THE entire Kardashian family considered OJ Simpson a close friend until he went on trial for the murder of his second wife Nicole.
Here we take an in-depth look at what happened.
What did OJ Simpson do to the Kardashians?
In a 2020 episode of David Letterman’s Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Kim revealed that ‘the trial of the century’ “tore my family apart.”
Kim and her older sister Kourtney were teenagers when Simpson went on trial for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman — and were torn between which divorced parent they would side with.
Kim explained: “My mom was extremely vocal on her feelings, she believed that her friend was murdered by him and that was really traumatising for her.
“And then we’d go to my dad’s house and it was a whole other situation there.
“We didn’t really know what to believe or whose side to take as kids, because we didn’t want to hurt one of our parents’ feelings,” she said.
“It tore my family apart, I’d say, for the whole time of the trial.”
How is Kris Jenner connected to OJ Simpson?
Kim’s father Robert Kardashian was a close friend of Simpson — who died on April 10, 2024 following a battle with cancer.
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Robert was part of Simpson’s legal defense team when he was charged with the double murder of Nicole and Ronald.
Whereas her mother Kris Jenner was Nicole’s best friend and believed Simpson committed the murder.
Did Robert Kardashian stop talking to OJ?
After the case, Kim’s father Robert expressed doubts over Simpson’s innocence and eventually cut all ties with him — although no date for when this happened has been reported.
He added that if he had known he and his family would have received death threats for their involvement, he would have never taken the case.
Robert died from esophageal cancer in 2003.
Do the Kardashians support OJ Simpson?
In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Kim said her father’s continued support of Simpson was a source of strain in the family.
Decades after the trial, Kim said she tried not to publicly share her thoughts on whether or not she believed Simpson was innocent.
“I’ve never expressed how I’ve felt about that because I just respect his children,” she told Letterman in 2020.
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However, in 2021 Kim was slammed by Nicole’s sister, Tanya, over a “distasteful” joke about Simpson during her opening monologue for Saturday Night Live.
Kim, who was studying to be a lawyer at the time, mentioned her father during the monologue.
She said: “My father was and is still such an influence and inspiration to me and I credit him with really opening up my eyes to racial injustice.
“It’s because of him that I met my first black person. Want to take a stab in the dark at who it was?
“I know it’s sort of weird to remember the first black person you met, but OJ does leave a mark. Or several! Or none at all. I still don’t know.”
Tanya told TMZ that the jokes related to her sister’s death were in “poor taste” and “beyond inappropriate and insensitive.”
Because of Kris’ history with Nicole, Tanya argued that Kim should’ve removed the jokes in her monologue.
OJ Simpson’s Trial Timeline
A look at why The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson is regarded as the murder trial of the century.
On June 12, 1994, OJ Simpson’s estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend Ronald Goldman, 25, were stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles condo.
Their bodies were found two days later.
On June 17, Simpson was charged with their murders and arrested following a livestreamed car chase.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on July 22.
By November 3, an initial jury of twelve was selected.
They would be sequestered for 265 days throughout the proceedings.
Simpson wished for a speedy trial, and his team worked tirelessly on their defense before opening statements began on January 24.
Prosecutors painted Simpson as a savage killer who lashed out at his wife in a murderous rage because he couldn’t control her.
They said a bloody glove was recovered at the crime scene, and that blood spatters were seen on Simpson’s white Ford Bronco.
Meanwhile, the defense accused Mark Fuhrman, a Los Angeles Police Department detective who was working the case, of racism.
They claimed Fuhrman used racist language to describe Black people and tried to paint him as an illegitimate witness.
Three days after the opening statements, Simpson released his tell-all book I Want to Tell You where he spoke out about the deaths and accusations.
On February 3, Nicole’s sister Denise Brown testified that Simpson was abusive, claiming he called Nicole a “fat pig” when she was pregnant.
On June 15, Simpson tried on bloody gloves that were found at the scene of the crime and demonstrated that they did not seem to fit in a dramatic court scene.
On October 3, the jury found Simpson not guilty of two counts of murder.
In 1997, Simpson was found liable for Nicole and Goldman’s deaths in a civil suit filed by the victims’ families
