RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media O.J. Simpson: "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened"

After a firestorm of criticism, News. Corp. said Monday that it has canceled the O.J. Simpson book and TV special "If I Did It."

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

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Jim Jackson said:
AOL is reporting this evening that the book and TV interview have both been canceled and labeled "ill-considered" in retrospect.

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Jeremy said:
Good.

But you know he'll try some other publicity stunt. Maybe not right away, but in short time.

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Like maybe OJ will jump a motorcycle over a tank filled with sharks?

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thedoctor said:
No, he just isn't paying it. California law is set up to keep pensions protected from being used to pay court judgments, so his NFL pension can't be taken from him as payment. He then moved to Florida, which has state laws that prevent property seizures as payment for debts. He still owes the money legally no matter where in the US he moves. He's just using laws to keep the Goldman's from collecting.

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O.J. Simpson's would-be publisher, Judith Regan, was fired, with her sensational, scandalous tenure at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. ending with a terse announcement.

"Judith Regan's employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately," HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman said in a statement Friday. "The REGAN publishing program and staff will continue as part of the HarperCollins General Books Group."

Regan's firing comes less than a month after Murdoch's cancellation of Simpson's hypothetical murder confession, "If I Did It," a planned book and Fox television interview that was greeted with instant and near-universal disgust when announced.

The book was said to describe how Simpson hypothetically would have killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted of murder in 1995.

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge prohibited
O.J. Simpson from using money he may have received from a canceled book deal and TV interview in which he reportedly told a hypothetical tale of how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real issued the order Wednesday, freezing the money during a hearing about a lawsuit filed last month by Goldman's father. It remains in effect until a Jan. 24 hearing.

The federal lawsuit accuses Simpson of "fraudulent conveyance" and alleges that he created a shell corporation called Lorraine Brooke Associates last March that received at least $1.1 million.

The suit contends the company was created to hide money from the book and TV deal so the Goldman family could not seize any of it to satisfy a 1997 wrongful death lawsuit judgment. With interest, that judgment is estimated at $38 million.

Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges in the 1994 killings of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

The latest lawsuit seeks about $1.1 million plus punitive damages, although Goldman family attorney Jonathan Polak said he did not know how much money Lorraine Brooke Associates currently had in its account. He called the order preventing transfer or use of the money a first step to determining the figure. Otherwise, it would be a "moving target" because Simpson could move the money, Polak said.

A call to Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, was not immediately returned Thursday.

Simpson has said that he spent the proceeds he received as part of the deal. The book, titled "If I Did It" and scheduled to come out Nov. 30, was never released by News Corp.-owned HarperCollins and the TV interview never aired. News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch called off the project on Nov. 20, apologizing for "any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

News Corp. has said the company paid $880,000 to a third party in connection with the project.

Simpson has told The Associated Press that he took part in the project solely for personal profit and acknowledged that any financial gain was "blood money."

• O.J. Simpson was being questioned Friday about a robbery that took place at the Palace Station casino in Las Vegas, police confirmed to KVVU.
  
  Several other people were also being questioned.
  
  The robbery took place late Thursday night. It was unclear whether it occurred on the casino floor or in a guest room.
  
  Simpson has not been arrested. A statement was expected to be issued by police later Friday.
  
  There is also a report that Simpson is accused of breaking into a room at the Palace Station casino on Thursday, but this has not been confirmed.

• The former football star said he went to the room to retrieve property he said was stolen from him but denied breaking in.
  
  Simpson told The Associated Press auction house owner Tom Riccio called him several weeks ago to say some collectors "have a lot of your stuff and they don't want anyone to know they are selling it."
  
  Simpson, who was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding, said he arranged to meet Riccio at the hotel and conducted a "sting operation."
  
  "Everybody knows this is stolen stuff," Simpson said. "Not only wasn't there a break-in, but Riccio came to the lobby and escorted us up to the room. In any event, it's stolen stuff that's mine. Nobody was roughed up."

• O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday on charges related to the armed robbery of Simpson sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel room, Las Vegas police said Sunday.
  
  Lead investigator Lt. Clint Nichols said Sunday that Simpson had played a "substantial role" in the incident and that in earlier interviews with the police, Simpson had provided information that "changed the course of the investigation."
  
  Nichols said Simpson was taken into custody at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas without incident. Bail is expected to be set later Sunday.
  
  Earlier Sunday, Las Vegas police seized two firearms and arrested another man allegedly involved in the robbery, authorities said Sunday.

• One of them men arrested with Simpson, Walter Alexander, said Tuesday that Simpson may have been tricked because another memorabilia dealer who tipped him off also recorded everything on tape.
  
  "It sounds like a setup to me," Alexander told ABC's "Good Morning America."

• OJ Simpson, the football star-turned-actor who was acquitted of double murder in 1995, was ordered to stand trial in what prosecutors say was the armed robbery of his own memorabilia from a pair of collectors.
  
  Las Vegas Judge Joe Bonaventure ordered Simpson, 60, to stand trial in the September 13 incident at the Palace Palace Station Hotel and Casino.
  
  Prosecutors say Simpson lead five accomplices in stealing the memorabilia at gunpoint from Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.
  
  Walter Alexander, Charles Cashmore and Michael McClinton were also charged in the case initially but agreed to plead guilty and testify for the prosecution.
  
  Both Alexander and McClinton told the court during the hearing that Simpson asked them to bring guns to the Palace Station, just off the Vegas strip, to intimidate Fromong and Beardsley.
  
  Defense lawyers asked Bonaventure to dismiss the charges, saying that Simpson went to the hotel room only to recover his own stolen belongings and did not have a gun.
  
  Another man who was with Simpson during the incident, Thomas Riccio, testified last week that the former star running back made no mention of guns while helping plan the incident and was bent on retrieving his stolen property.
  
  Simpson, who parlayed his fame as an athlete into a career in Hollywood, was acquitted of the June 12, 1994, murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman after the sensational trial that transfixed much of the world.
  
  A civil court jury later found Simpson liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million (NZ$43.9 million) in damages to the victims' families, a judgment that remains largely unpaid.