Headline, Industry News

O.J. says book wasn’t a confession

MIAMI (AP) _ O.J. Simpson’s ill-fated "If I Did It" book and TV project was not a confession to the murders of his ex-wife and her friend and that the title wasn’t his idea, he said in a radio interview Wednesday. Simpson, who lives in the Miami suburbs, also told WTPS-AM that the reported advance payment figure of US$3.5 million was inaccurate. Although he would not specify how much he was paid, he did say it was a "windfall" that would go mainly to pay bills and support his children.

"Would everybody stop being so naive? Of course I got paid," Simpson said with a laugh. "I spend the money on my bills. It’s gone."

Simpson’s interview came two days after News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch cancelled the book and two-part interview that had been set to air Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 on the company’s Fox TV network. All copies of the book will be destroyed, officials with publisher HarperCollins have said.

But with the interview already taped and thousands of books either sitting in warehouses or headed to booksellers, it appeared unlikely Simpson’s supposedly hypothetical account of the murders would remain under wraps for long.

The cancellation came amid an intensely negative nationwide reaction to what was being billed as a thinly veiled confession by Simpson to the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was acquitted in 1995.

In the Miami radio interview, Simpson also was asked point-blank if he killed the pair.

"Absolutely not, and I maintained my innocence from day one," he replied, adding a little later: "No matter what everybody wants to say, I didn’t do it."

Simpson also said he told the writer, "I have nothing to confess."

As for the "If I Did It" title, he added, "that was their title. That’s what they came up with. I didn’t pitch anything. I don’t make book deals."

Simpson also accused the Goldman family _ which won a $33.5 million civil wrongful death judgment against him _ of "opening up those old wounds" on frequent TV appearances.

"It happens every month to me. Everybody’s calling me names," Simpson said. News Corp. backed away from the project Monday after advertisers, booksellers and even Fox personality Bill O’Reilly branded it sick and exploitive.

Pre-publication sales for "If I Did It," had been strong but not exceptional. It cracked the top 20 of Amazon.com last weekend, but by Monday afternoon, at the time its withdrawal was announced, the book had fallen to No. 51.

Before pulling the book and interview, News. Corp. officials had tried offering the Brown and Goldman families the profits from its publication. Nicole’s sister Denise Brown said her family’s response was: "Absolutely not."

Pre-publication sales for "If I Did It," had been strong but not exceptional. It cracked the top 20 of Amazon.com last weekend, but by Monday afternoon, at the time its elimination was announced, the book had fallen to No. 51.