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OJ Simpson, the former professional football player and actor who was famously acquitted in the murder of his wife and a waiter, has died. He was 76.
What was the cause of death for Simpson? He died of cancer, his family announced on his official X page.
After the acquittal, Simpson was found liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and waiter Ron Goldman. He periodically emerged back into the public eye, but he largely led a more private life.
Here’s what’s you need to know:
OJ Simpson Died After a ‘Battle With Cancer,’ His Family Wrote, Announcing His Cause of Death
On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
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.
-The Simpson Family
The X post from the “Simpson Family” appeared on Simpson’s verified X account Thursday morning.
It read: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.”
“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,” the post read.
In 2019, he told the Associated Press that he spent his time playing golf and with his children. He had two children with Nicole Brown Simpson and five altogether.
“We don’t need to go back and relive the worst day of our lives,” he said to AP as an anniversary of the murders approached. “The subject of the moment is the subject I will never revisit again. My family and I have moved on to what we call the ‘no negative zone.’ We focus on the positives.”
OJ Simpson’s Cause of Death Was Prostate Cancer
Hospice???
In February, Local10 reported that Simpson had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The site reported that Simpson was convicted of armed robbery in Nevada and was released on parole. He ended up living in a Las Vegas gated community. He sometimes offered opinions on topics through his X page, including professional sports.
In a video posted to his X page in February, Simpson laughed and denied reports that he was entering hospice care.
In addition to a few acting roles before the murders, Simpson had a record-setting professional football career.
Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter told CNN the Hall would preserve Simpson’s “athletic contributions.”
Porter told CNN that Simpson “was the first professional football player to rush for more than 2,000 yards during an NFL season,” a record “many thought could not be attained in a 14-game season.”
“He broke Jim Brown’s single-season rushing record (1,863 yards) that had stood for a decade, and his 143.1 rushing yards per game that season remains the highest mark in league history,” according to Porter’s statement to CNN, which noted that Simpson entered the Hall of Fame in 1985.
Those sporting accomplishments, of course, were later overshadowed by the double murder which led to a high-profile trial that divided the United States. Simpson was defended by a “dream team” of lawyers, who included Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro and Robert Kardashian, the father of the Kardashian sisters.
The trial was one of the first to widely present DNA evidence to the public and jury, and Simpson was acquitted after the prosecution team led by Marcia Clark asked him to try on a bloody glove that he then said didn’t fit.
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