If I Did It

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If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
Author O. J. Simpson
Pablo Fenjves (ghostwriter)[1]


Dominick Dunne

The Goldman family
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Fiction
Publisher Beaufort Books (Regan Books/HarperCollins, before cancellation)
Publication date September 13, 2007
Media type Hardback
Pages 208
ISBN 978-0-8253-0588-7
Preceded by I Want to Tell You: My Response to Your Letters, Your Messages, Your Questions

If I Did It is a book by O. J. Simpson, in which he puts forth a purportedly hypothetical description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, for which Simpson was tried and acquitted in a criminal trial but later found financially liable in a civil trial.[2] Although the original release was canceled shortly after it was announced in November 2006, several physical copies of the original book were printed and by June 2007 copies of the book had leaked online.[3]

It was originally planned that the book would be promoted via a television special featuring an interview with Simpson. This special had the longer title, O. J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How it Happened. Like the original release of the book, the special was cancelled.

In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family to partially satisfy an unpaid civil judgment. The title of the book was expanded to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer and comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, the book's ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves, and journalist Dominick Dunne.[4] In this new form, the book was published in September 2007.

Contents

[edit] First release cancelled

Original First Release Cover
Original First Release Cover

The book was unofficially announced in The National Enquirer in late October 2006 [5] and immediately denied by Simpson's lawyer.

The book was announced in mid-November 2006 for release on November 30, 2006, but intense public criticism led to the cancellation of the book's publication and a related television interview, both from divisions of News Corporation (HarperCollins/Regan Books and Fox Broadcasting Company, respectively). According to a Newsweek story, all 400,000 printed copies were recalled for destruction, except for one, locked away in a vault at News Corp.[6] One copy did show up on eBay on January 15, 2007, with a starting bid of $1500, and sold for over $65,000 fueling speculation about whether News Corp. was able to destroy all printed copies.[citation needed] James Wolcott of Vanity Fair obtained a "pristine hardcover" of the book for a review published in January 2007.[7]

[edit] Pre-publication controversy

If I Did It ignited a storm of pre-publication controversy, largely due to the perception that Simpson was trying to profit from the deaths. As mentioned above, he had been found liable for the deaths. Even before the civil trial, there had been considerable public sentiment that Simpson had gotten away with murder.

"This is not about being heard. This is about trying to cash in, in a pathetic way, on some notoriety," said Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly. "That a person keeps wanting to bring this up seems almost nutty to me."[8]

Denise Brown, sister of murder victim Nicole Brown Simpson, said, "We hope Ms. Regan takes full accountability for promoting the wrongdoing of criminals and leveraging this forum and the actions of Simpson to commercialize abuse."[8]

She went on to say that Simpson's "two children will be exposed to [his] inexplicable behavior and we will provide them with our love and support during this time. It's unfortunate that [O.J.] Simpson has decided to awaken a nightmare that we have painfully endured and worked so hard to move beyond."

Patricia Schroeder, president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers, described the developments as sickening:

"But I think it's going to stir an awful lot of debate and make the culture take a real look at itself, and that may not be unhealthy."[8]

The day after the announcement, an online boycott encouraging Americans to ignore the book commenced at OJbookBoycott.com[9] and similar boycotts began in Australia and Europe.[10] Within four days of the book's announcement, over 58,395 people had signed an online petition developed by Ronald Goldman's family, DontPayOJ.com,[11] declaring their opposition to the book.[12] The website directed boycotters to send protests to HarperCollins, ReganBooks, Fox television and all major booksellers in the United States.

Bookshops were divided as to stocking this title in their stores. Numerous independent stores, appalled by Simpson's book, said either that they would not sell it or would offer limited copies and give away the proceeds.[13] Borders Books and Waldenbooks said they would donate any profits they made from the book to charities which benefit victims of domestic violence. Borders, Inc. spokesperson Ann Binkley said, "The book will be available for sale at all Borders and Waldenbooks stores because we believe it is the right of customers to decide what they read and what to buy, but we will not discount the title or promote it".[14]

Prior to its cancellation, If I Did It was debated in Canada as well, with several stores there saying they would only order it for customers, but not stock it.[15]

In the days following the book's announcement, preorders put it in the top 20 of Amazon.com's bestseller list, though it had fallen to #51 when the book's cancellation was announced.[16]

The proposed book outraged the Goldman family. "It's disgusting. Judith Regan is an opportunist. She's helping a murderer get his voice out there," Goldman's sister Kim Goldman told the New York Daily News.[17] According to lawyers for the family of Ron Goldman, the family planned to attempt to garnish any earnings Simpson may get from the book. Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father, was awarded $33.5 million by a jury in 1997 for the wrongful death of Ron Goldman though Simpson never paid this judgment due to California law that prevents pensions from being used to satisfy judgments. Of the book and television interview, Goldman says,

"It is an all-time low for television. To imagine that a major network would put a murderer on TV to have him tell how he would murder the mother of his children and my son is beyond comprehension. It’s morally reprehensible to me... to think you are willing to give somebody airtime about how they would murder two people."[18]

Legal experts theorized that Simpson might be able to avoid paying the Goldmans or Browns any money. "I think it's going to be difficult if [Simpson] arranges to have [book profits] deposited abroad," said lawyer Tom Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson in his child molestation trial in 2005. "It's one thing to enforce a judgment in America, and another to enforce it overseas."

Mesereau said Simpson also might have profits "paid into a trust offshore or a corporation in a different name."[19]

Fox Broadcasting Company said it would air a two-part taped interview with Simpson, conducted by Judith Regan, publisher of the book. The interview was scheduled to air on November 27 and November 29, 2006, timed to coincide with the publication. The program would not have been a "news" show under the auspices of the Fox News unit; the broadcast network's alternative programming department, headed by Mike Darnell, would have been responsible. The network released this statement on November 15, 2006:

"O.J. Simpson, in his own words, tells for the first time how he would have committed the murders if he were the one responsible for the crimes. In the two-part event, Simpson describes how he would have carried out the murders he has vehemently denied committing for over a decade."[20]

On November 16, 2006 Judith Regan issued a statement claiming that her reason for doing the interview and releasing the book was an attempt to find closure after having been a battered woman herself.

"The men who lied and cheated and beat me — they were all there in the room," she said. "And the people who denied it, they were there, too. And though it might sound a little strange, Nicole and Ron were in my heart. And for them I wanted him to confess his sins, do penance, and to amend his life. Amen."[21]

Screenwriter Pablo Fenjves, a witness at Simpson's 1995 trial, was the ghostwriter for Simpson's book. Fenjves has since stated that he believes Simpson is "a murderer". [22]

[edit] Fox affiliate reaction

By November 19 or 20, 2006, before the special was cancelled, well over a dozen Fox affiliates had either refused to carry it or decided to air it but devote local time to public service announcements. Stations in Springfield, Missouri,[13] and Johnstown-Altoona-State College, Pennsylvania area were the first to turn down the special on November 17, 2006,[23] along with two other stations in Spokane, Washington[24] and Louisville, Kentucky.[25]

The largest station group to show refusal to air the special was LIN Television with Fox affiliates in six markets:

Pappas Telecasting was second in line, and said they would pre-empt the program on their Fox stations in four markets[26] along with Fox stations in Bismarck-Minot, North Dakota.[27]:

Fox affiliates KCPQ in Seattle, Washington—owned by Tribune Company—and XETV-TV in Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California—owned by Mexican media giant Televisa and operated by Entravision under a Local Marketing Agreement—were both reportedly undecided, but each indicated that if they aired the special, they would not sell local ad time, instead giving that time to local domestic violence organizations to air public service announcements.[28]

Fox affiliate WRAZ in Raleigh, North Carolina, owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company was the last station to show refusal to air the special.

NBC said that it was approached to air the interview, but declined, saying, "This is not a project appropriate for our network."[29] NBC formerly employed Simpson as a football analyst.

[edit] Project cancellation

On November 20, 2006, News Corporation issued a statement saying that the book and television special had been cancelled. In the statement, NewsCorp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said, "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson."[30]

The Associated Press called the book's cancellation "an astonishing end to a story like no other," noting that a publisher withdrawing a book for its content "is virtually unheard of."[16]

The fact that the interview already exists on tape, executives at Fox and News Corporation said it is likely to turn up somewhere, perhaps on the Internet.[31]

On November 21, 2006, Denise Brown accused the Fox Corporation of trying to stop the Goldman and Brown families from criticizing the project by offering millions of dollars for their silence surrounding the project, "They wanted to offer us millions of dollars. Millions of dollars for, like, 'Oh, I'm sorry' money. But they were still going to air the show," Brown said. "We just thought, 'Oh my God.' What they're trying to do is trying to keep us quiet, trying to make this like hush money, trying to go around the civil verdict, giving us this money to keep our mouths shut."[32]

Denise Brown told NBC's The Today Show that her family's response was: "Absolutely not." Fox confirmed that the Brown and Goldman families were offered profit participation deals for the projects but denies that it was hush money.[32] "Last week, when concerns were raised by the public that we were profiting from this guy's story, we tried to work out some arrangement with the family. Never was there any suggestion of them being barred from talking about it. We would never suggest that," said News Corp spokesman Andrew Butcher.[33] HarperCollins announced December 16, 2006 that Judith Regan was fired for making anti-semitic remarks and that ReganBooks would be absorbed into the HarperCollins General Books group.

[edit] Leak on the Internet

On June 13, 2007, a PDF version of the book was leaked on the Internet through Rapidshare and appeared the next day on various BitTorrent websites. The original Rapidshare post was announced through a video posted on YouTube which showed a hardcover version of the book followed by a computer screen on which appeared the Firefox browser with the Rapidshare address.[34]

[edit] Republication

On August 14, 2007 it was reported that a literary agent for the Goldman family, Sharlene Martin, had made a deal to publish the book under the new title "Confessions of the Killer."[35] All of Simpson's writing is to remain intact, with the addition of "key commentary." The book was released about a month later, on September 13, 2007. Some of the proceeds are to benefit the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice. The Ronald Lyle Goldman Justice Foundation was planned in 1995 to fund civil legal action against Mr. Simpson.[36]

[edit] Transfer of rights

Rights for the book were transferred to the Goldman family, who will receive 90 percent of profits, as part of their settlement. The family's lawyers announced intentions to pursue new publishing, film or TV deals in order to receive some of $33.5 million awarded to them in the civil case.[37]

Denise Brown urges people to [38] sign her petition on Care2's The PetitionSite to halt publication of the book by the Goldman Family.

[edit] Lawsuits

Fred Goldman sued the shell corporation, Lorraine Brooke Associates, for the publishing rights after it filed for bankruptcy. After Goldman purchased the rights from the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee,[39] Nicole's father, Louis H. Brown, sued Goldman attempting to stop the publication but lost.[40]

[edit] Contents

The first part of the If I Did It manuscript reportedly details Simpson's early relationship with Nicole and their marriage. The latter part of the manuscript reportedly describes details of the murders, as they would have occurred had Simpson committed them. However, Simpson's attorney has said that there is "only one chapter that deals with their deaths and that chapter, in my understanding, has a disclaimer that it's complete fiction."[41] In Simpson's hypothetical scenario, he has an unwilling accomplice named "Charlie" who tells Simpson to stop the murders, but Simpson did it anyway.[42]

HarperCollins Publishers had planned to publish it under their Regan Books imprint on November 30, 2006. The National Enquirer reported in October 2006 that Simpson would be paid US$3.5 million for the book.[43] Publisher Judith Regan was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "This is an historic case, and I consider this his confession."[8]

A source cited by The National Enquirer described the If I Did It's account of the double murder as "so detailed and chillingly realistic—with O.J. as the central figure—that it leaves no doubt it is a confession of what really happened."[44]

In one portion of an interview to promote the book, taped before the project was cancelled, Regan says to Simpson, "You wrote, 'I have never seen so much blood in my life.'" Simpson responds, "I don't think any two people could be murdered without everybody being covered in blood."[44]

The proposed book's cover, as released by HarperCollins, showed a photograph of Simpson with the words "I Did It" in red and the word "If" in white.[45]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Murr, Andrew. "A Friendly Ghost", Newsweek, 2008-03-03. 
  2. ^ Index of Civil Trial Reports by USA Today
  3. ^ OJ "Did It" Manuscript Leaked Online - TMZ.com - Entertainment News, Celebrity Gossip and Hollywood Rumors
  4. ^ Beaufort Books > Books > If I Did It
  5. ^ No Juice-y Book, Lawyer Says
  6. ^ O.J. Book: Evidence of Guilt? - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com
  7. ^ James Wolcott reviews O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It": Fame & Scandal: vanityfair.com
  8. ^ a b c d Associated Press (2006-11-16). Publisher on O.J.: 'I consider this his confession'. CNN. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  9. ^ OJ Book Boycott. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  10. ^ Lusetich, Robert (2006-11-17). OJ confession book boycotted. The Australian. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  11. ^ "Former lawyers mum on Simpson's book", Mercury News, November 18, 2006. 
  12. ^ Online petition. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
  13. ^ a b Staff report. Springfield’s Fox channel station drops O.J. interview. Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
  14. ^ Grant, Justin (2006-11-18). Booksellers mixed on stocking OJ Simpson book. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
  15. ^ Canadian retailers divided over O.J. Simpson book. CBC.ca (2006-11-17). Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
  16. ^ a b OJ Simpson Book, TV special canceled. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
  17. ^ Caruso, Michelle (2006-11-16). Gloves off: Vics' kin blast O.J. book. New York Daily News. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  18. ^ Abcarian, Robin; Miller, Martin (2006-11-16). Simpson to tell how he could have killed pair. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  19. ^ Francescani, Chris; Davis, Ellen, and Pearle, Lauren (2006-11-16). Simpson in the Clear. ABC News. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  20. ^ "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened" to Air as a Two-Part Special on Fox. Fox Broadcasting Company (November 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  21. ^ Regan turns on O.J. Simpson. ABC News (November 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  22. ^ O.J. Confesses. Really.: The ghostwriter of If I Did It calls Simpson "a murderer.". Slate (January 15, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-15.
  23. ^ Danahy, Anne. Fox channel won't air O.J.; WWCP refuses to show Simpson chat about deaths of ex-wife, friend. Centre Daily Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
  24. ^ Italie, Hillel. Book maven not afraid of controversy; O.J. publisher takes business to new level. The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.
  25. ^ Lamb, Bill (WDRB general manager). The O.J. Special: Fox Finally Comes Through (Station editorial). WDRB (Channel 41), Louisville, Kentucky. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
  26. ^ Raines, Ben. O.J. interview won't be shown in Mobile (additionally mentions LIN and Pappas preemptions, and KCPQ's ad plan). Mobile Press-Register. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.
  27. ^ Benson, Jim. Fox Stations Kill OJ Special. Broadcasting and Cable. Retrieved on 2006-11-19.
  28. ^ Source for XETV: More Fox Affiliates Kill O.J. Special, Jim Benson and Caroline Palmer, Broadcasting & Cable, November 20, 2006
  29. ^ McClam, Erin (Associated Press). O.J. 'confesses' in what-if book. Toronto Star. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  30. ^ News Corporation (2006-11-20). News Corporation Cancels Simpson Book and TV Special. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
  31. ^ Under pressure, Newscorp Pulls Simpson Book, TV Show. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
  32. ^ a b "O.J. Simpson Project Could Turn on Web", November 21, 2006. 
  33. ^ "Simpson project was hot topic inside Fox", Los Angeles Times, November 22, 2006. 
  34. ^ O.J. Simpson If I Did It Released on Internet
  35. ^ "O.J. Simpson's 'If I Did It' to be published." CNN.com, 2007-08-14. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  36. ^ Goldman Family Moves Towards Civil Suit against Simpson." The Tech Online Edition, 1995-10-13. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  37. ^ Jane Sutton. "Goldman family gets rights to O.J. Simpson book," Reuters, July 30, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
  38. ^ If I Did It petition. care2's the petition site (august 20, 2007).
  39. ^ Kennedy, Kelli (2007-07-03). Goldman Family Buys Rights To Simpson Manuscript. Associated Press.
  40. ^ Goldstein, Bonnie (2007-08-21). O.J.'s Victims' Families Slug It Out. Slate.com.
  41. ^ Associated Press (2006-11-16). O.J. book sparks new outrage. The Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  42. ^ "Evidence of Guilt?" by Mark Miller. Newsweek. 2007-01-22. pages 48-49.
  43. ^ O.J. Book: Enquirer Told You First!. National Enquirer (2006-11-16). Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
  44. ^ a b de Moraes, Lisa (2006-11-15). A Fox Shocker: In Depth With O.J. Simpson for A Ratings Boost. The Washington Post C01. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  45. ^ Norfolk Fox affiliate won't show O.J. Simpson interview | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
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