Celebrity
OJ Simpson, Fallen Football Hero Acquitted Of Murder In ‘Trial Of The Century,’ Dies At 76
LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson, the renowned football player and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of murdering his former wife and a friend but found guilty in a separate civil trial, has died. He was 76.
Simpson died of prostate cancer on Wednesday, according to his family, who announced it on his official X account. Simpson’s attorney told TMZ on Thursday that he died in Las Vegas.
Simpson rose to fame, money, and admiration in football and show business, but his legacy was irrevocably altered by the June 1994 knife murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.
OJ Simpson, Fallen Football Hero Acquitted Of Murder In ‘Trial Of The Century,’ Dies At 76
Live T.V. coverage of his arrest during a historic slow-speed chase signaled a precipitous fall from grace.
He appeared to transcend racial barriers as a star Trojan tailback for the powerful University of Southern California in the late 1960s, a rental car ad pitchman rushing through airports in the late 1970s, and the husband of a blond and blue-eyed high school homecoming queen in the 1980s.
“I’m not Black, I’m O.J.,” he would tell friends.
His “trial of the century” captivated the audience on live television. His case raised discussions about racism, gender, domestic violence, celebrity justice, and police wrongdoing.
A criminal court jury found him not guilty of murder in 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him accountable for the murders in 1997 and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to Brown and Goldman’s families.
Ten years later, Simpson led five men he hardly knew into a fight with two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped hotel room in Las Vegas, still troubled by the California wrongful death verdict. Simpson was accompanied by two men armed with firearms. A jury found Simpson guilty of armed robbery and other offenses.
He was imprisoned at the age of 61 and spent nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison, including time as a gym janitor. He was not remorseful when he was freed on parole in October 2017. The parole board heard him argue once more that he was merely seeking to recover sports memorabilia and family heirlooms stolen from him following his criminal trial in Los Angeles.
“I’ve basically spent a conflict-free life, you know,” said Simpson, whose parole expires in late 2021.
The public’s interest in Simpson remained strong. Many people questioned whether he was punished in Las Vegas after his acquittal in Los Angeles. In 2016, he was the focus of a five-part ESPN documentary and an F.X. mini-series.
“I don’t think most of America believes I did it,” Simpson told The New York Times in 1995, a week after a jury ruled he did not murder Brown and Goldman. “I’ve gotten thousands of letters and telegrams from people supporting me.”
Twelve years later, in response to widespread public outcry, Rupert Murdoch shelved a proposed book by News Corp.-owned HarperCollins in which Simpson presented his hypothetical account of the murders. It was supposed to be titled “If I Did It.”
Goldman’s family, which is currently pursuing the multimillion-dollar wrongful death claim, obtained custody of the text. They retitled the book “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.”
“It’s all blood money, and unfortunately, I had to join the jackals,” Simpson told the Associated Press at the time. He received $880,000 in advance payments for the book via a third party.
“It helped me get out of debt and secure my homestead,” he told me.
Less than two months after losing the book rights, Simpson was jailed in Las Vegas.
OJ Simpson, Fallen Football Hero Acquitted Of Murder In ‘Trial Of The Century,’ Dies At 76
David Cook, an attorney who has been pursuing the civil judgment in the Goldman case since 2008, said he spoke with Ron’s father, Fred, on Thursday about Simpson’s death. Cook refuses to reveal what Fred Goldman had said or where he was.
“He died without penance,” Cook said of Simpson. “We have yet to learn what he has, where it is, or who is in control. We shall continue from where we are.
Simpson spent nine of his 11 NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills, earning the nickname “The Juice” as part of an offensive line known as “The Electric Company.” He won four NFL rushing titles, amassed 11,236 yards, scored 76 touchdowns, and appeared in five Pro Bowls. His best season was 1973, when he rushed for 2,003 yards, becoming the first running back to reach that milestone.
“I was a part of the history of the game,” he said years later. “If I did nothing else in my life, I’d made my mark.”
Of course, Simpson went on to achieve more renown.
One of the items from his murder trial, the meticulously fitted tan suit he wore when acquitted, was later donated and displayed at the Newseum in Washington. Simpson was assured that the outfit would be at his hotel room in Las Vegas, but it wasn’t.
Orenthal James Simpson was born in San Francisco on July 9, 1947. He grew up in government-subsidized housing developments.
Following graduation from high school, he attended City College of San Francisco for a year and a half before moving to the University of Southern California for the spring 1967 semester.
He married his first wife, Marguerite Whitley, on June 24, 1967, and moved her to Los Angeles the next day to begin preparation for his first season with USC, which won the national championship that year largely due to Simpson’s contributions.
OJ Simpson, Fallen Football Hero Acquitted Of Murder In ‘Trial Of The Century,’ Dies At 76
Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He accepted the statue on the same day as the birth of his first child, Arnelle.
He had two kids with his first wife, Jason and Aaren. One of them, Aaren, drowned as a toddler in a swimming pool accident in 1979, the same year he and Whitley divorced.
Simpson and Brown got married in 1985. They had two kids, Justin and Sydney, and divorced in 1992. Nicole Brown Simpson was found killed two years after she disappeared.
“We don’t need to go back and relive the worst day of our lives,” he told the Associated Press 25 years after the double homicide. “The topic of the moment is one I will never revisit again. My family and I have moved on to the ‘no negative zone.’ We focus on the positives.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Celebrity
Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.
In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.
As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.
Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.
“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”
“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”
Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.
Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg
— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024
Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.
Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.
“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.
The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.
The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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Celebrity
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.
On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.
“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.
However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.
Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”
He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.
Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.
Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.
According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.
“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.
The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.
SOURCE | CNN
Celebrity
Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79
Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.
Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”
Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.
Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.
She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.
In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.
Teri Garr, a comedian
Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”
She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”
Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.
“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.
The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”
Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.
A gift for spontaneous humor
Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.
She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.
Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.
During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.
Source: AP
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