Simpson on British TV:
Media to blame for his ills

May 13, 1996
Web posted at: 7:50 p.m. EDT

MANCHESTER, England (CNN) -- O.J. Simpson told British television viewers Monday that media coverage of his murder trial is responsible for the perception, by many, that he is guilty of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. (826K QuickTime movie)

"The reports were so, I felt, inaccurate, skewed, always generally to the negative," said the former U.S. football star, who was found not guilty last fall after a 293-day trial.

In his first British television interview, 15 minutes on the new talk show "Tonight" with Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan, Simpson discussed the murders, but mainly recounted answers already given to the media and distributed on a videotaped account of his side of the story.

"My favorite person next to my mother was brutally murdered," said Simpson, who denied reports of violence against Nicole Brown Simpson and said that he never felt any jealousy toward her.

Simpson denied writing a suicide note before the now-infamous slow-speed Bronco chase before his arrest.

"I don't know what I intended to do. I just wanted the pain to stop," he said, adding that his friend Al Cowlings "drove me to her grave" on that night.

The interview, broadcast live in London, will not be made available outside the United Kingdom, said an attorney for Granada TV. The attorney gave no reason for the blocked access.

Simpson came to Britain to "defend himself," according to publicist Max Clifford, hired by Granada TV to coordinate Simpson's trip. But public reaction has been at best mixed.

When jeers greeted his client on his London arrival Saturday, Clifford blamed the U.S. media.

"Apart from a couple of Americans that were planted there to shout out a few things, the actual reaction was very good," Clifford said.

But, among patrons questioned by a reporter at a London pub, Simpson's visit was met with indifference. (953K QuickTime movie)

"I am sick and tired of his face," said one customer, while another said, "I've heard it all before -- 'I didn't do it, I'm not guilty.' I'm not interested."

Still another wrapped up the reason for the journey to England succinctly: "He can't get what he wants in America, so he's come over here to get publicity in England."

Appearing on "Tonight" was certainly geared to generate that publicity. Until Monday, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan were daytime talk show hosts. Monday's program was their first nighttime episode.

"The reason it's had quite so much coverage in the media here, his visit ... is that the interviewers are far more famous than he is," said Mark Lawson, media columnist for The Guardian newspaper. "Whereas in America ...the story will be 'how did O.J. do on television,' the story in Britain will be 'how did Richard and Judy do?'"

Richard and Judy did lose a guest for Monday night's show -- actress Bo Derek pulled out because she felt uneasy appearing on the program with Simpson.

Simpson is scheduled to speak Tuesday at the Oxford University debating society.

"His speech tomorrow is part of his pathetic attempts to rehabilitate himself with the public and makes Oxford complicit in a disreputable exercise," wrote former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil.

Oxford Union president Paul Kenward defended the selection of Simpson as a speaker, however.

"I don't think we are being used," he said. "I don't think that by extending an invitation we are in any way endorsing his moral fiber."

"I can sympathize with his feeling that the American media has given him a rough ride," Kenward said. "If he's aggrieved, he has the right to put it right."

About 1,300 students will attend the session, which is barred to the press. No cameras or tape recorders will be permitted, at Simpson's request, and the speech will be followed by a question and answer period.

Correspondent Margaret Lowrie, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• O.J. in the U.K.: Rehab tour kicks off - May 12, 1996
• Simpson departs Friday for England - May 10, 1996
• Simpson friend Kardashian testifies in deposition - May 3, 1996
• Cowlings recounts violent O.J. episode - May 2, 1996
• CNN - O.J. Simpson Main Page

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