mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >

Back in the mid-1990s, an O.J. confession would have been press-stopping news. All the networks would have carried the story live, interrupting regularly scheduled O.J.-related programming. Schools might have closed early, sporting events postponed.
For anyone too young to remember — is there anyone too young to remember? — this trial owned the media landscape. I learned Orenthal James was not guilty in my mass communications class. The breaking news was broadcast live throughout our high school. In a slick, post-modern move, our teacher filmed us watching the verdict. If you don’t believe me, this footage can be found in the 1996 Morris Knolls Eagle’s Eye video yearbook. During the subsequent civil trial, E! had a daily show called The O.J. Civil Trial that acted out the day’s court transcript.
I bring all this up because news of O.J.’s confession was buried on pages B7 and B13 in Saturday’s New York Times. Transcripts of the ill-fated If I Did It interview were obtained by the paper. But I can’t even find the story online. We’ve come a long way, I guess.
“As things got heated,” O.J. said, “I just remember Nicole fell and hurt herself. And this guy [Ron Goldman] kind of got into a karate thing. I remember I grabbed the knife.” He goes on to say he blacked out. His next memory is being covered in “blood and stuff.”
That’s not technically a confession, but it’s close enough for me. So there you have it. On page B13 of the Arts section.
Oh, and that image above? Right. That’s a chess set made to commemorate the trial, created by Norma Jean Almodovar, a champion of sex worker rights.
He sure did. The thing I remember most about the trial is the unusual Bruno Magli shoes he wore and how evidence was found that those shoes were worn by SOMEBODY at the scene of the crime.
posted by Rhea on 2-6-2007 at 2:16 pm
Even though its not on the NYT site… many libraries subscribe to it electronically through a database. For example, I can access the article through ProQuest in its full 1,442 wonderful words.
posted by Corrine on 2-7-2007 at 9:52 am
No doubt in my mind. He did it!
Speedy
posted by Speedy on 2-7-2007 at 11:20 am
For anyone too young to remember — is there anyone too young to remember?
Yes, yes there is. I was going over the Bill of Rights in my US history class with high school sophomores and used the OJ trial extensively for examples. (His If I did it memoir was great for explaining double jeopardy.) Anyway I mentioned Kato Kaelin and was quickly met with cries of “who?!” and completely blank stares.
posted by Bob on 2-7-2007 at 2:14 pm
“If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit!”*
(*The glove in evidence being the exact make and size the defendant habitually wore, and haven shrunken from being soaked in blood and then dried, and the defendant wearing cotton gloves while softly “trying” to put the glove in evidence on.)
posted by Nat on 2-8-2007 at 2:51 pm