O.J. Simpson has died from cancer, his family announced Thursday.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” his family shared in a statement on X. “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.”
Simpson, whose full name was Orenthal James, was 76. He died in Las Vegas, reportedly surrounded by relatives.
In February, Simpson had denied reports that he was in hospice, insisting “I don’t know who put that out here,” in a video posted on X.
“You can’t trust the media,” he said, adding that he’d be “hosting a ton of friends for the Super Bowl.”
The former football star, who later enjoyed a successful acting career until he was charged with brutally murdering his estranged wife and a male friend of hers in 1994. Although Simpson was acquitted of the murder charges, he later served nine years in a Nevada prison for a botched kidnapping and armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room.
Simpson’s prostate cancer diagnosis was first revealed in February, a little more than three years after his parole officially ended. He moved to a gated community in Sin City, and regularly posted updates on his life to social media. The Bay Area native’s final dispatch came that same month, was a video of himself sitting poolside, expressing his support for the San Francisco 49ers in the upcoming Super Bowl. (They lost.)
Simpson’s exploits on the football field will forever be overshadowed by the brutal stabbing deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. His televised prosecution the following year would come to be known as the “Trial of the Century,” with a so-called dream team of attorneys including Johnnie Cochran and budding starlet Kim Kardashian’s father, Robert.
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