A controversial 2006 interview with O.J. Simpson is finally going to air after more than a decade on ice.
Fox has announced that "O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession" will air on Sunday, March 11, in a special that will be hosted by veteran journalist Soledad O'Brien. The show will focus on an interview that was originally filmed in 2006 when Simpson was getting set to release a book called "If I Did It."
In the book, Simpson explains how he would have done it, if he had been the one who killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in June 1994. Although Simpson was acquitted of the murders in October 1995, he was later found liable of their deaths in civil court. The former Buffalo Bills running back was ordered to pay $33.5 million after a judge ruled against him in a wrongful death lawsuits filed by the families of the victims. Simpson is now believed to owe more than $70 million to the families due to interest that has accrued since he lost the civil case in February 1997.
The interview with Simpson in 2006 never aired because Fox decided to pull it after facing serious backlash from the general public. In November 2006, Fox was going to air the interview in a two-part special before Rupert Murdoch personally announced that it was going to be axed.
"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," Murdoch said in November 2006. "We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."
Not only did Fox shelve the TV special, but they also dumped the book. Most of the first-print copies were destroyed in 2006, and the ones that didn't get destroyed became collector's items. An original printing of the book sold for $4,555 at an auction in October 2017.
Although the book was axed by publisher Harper Collins, which was owned by Fox, another version of it eventually did get released. After a judge gave the rights of the book to the Goldmans, the family released the book in August 2007 as a way to collect on the $33.5 million court ruling against Simpson. The family believed that the book was Simpson's way of confessing to the crime, so when they released it, they retitled the book, "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer."
Fourteen months after the book was released, Simpson was sent to jail after being found guilty of kidnapping and robbery in Nevada. Simpson spent roughly nine years in prison before being released on Oct. 1, 2017. Simpson hasn't yet commented on the fact that his 12-year-old interview will be airing on Sunday.
Fox has announced that Sunday's interview will feature public service announcements on domestic violence awareness throughout the program.
You can see a preview of the special below.
