Part 5: OJ in Florida - O.J.: Made in America (2016) Discussion

[–] ant-con 8 years ago

It's a Greek tragedy, I caught myself almost feeling sorry for him during the sentencing phase of the (Vegas) trial . All those months adding up, I could see him running the numbers and just giving up at a certain point and rolling his eyes and shaking his head

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[–] lindley-ward32 8 years ago

I have to say I did as well. Especially when his old lawyer pointed out that the 33 years essentially equated to the 33 mill that the Goldman's will never be able to recover. I don't believe it was coincidence either. I've always thought his sentencing for the Vegas thing was payback for being acquitted all those years ago.

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[–] LetThemEatCake01 8 years ago

It is, and it is wrong to be honest. Marcia Clark, Gil Garcetti and the jurors should have to live with the fact that their incompetence let a killer walk free.

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[–] wrightinchicago 8 years ago

Yeh, that was sad. The man had money, he had assets, he should have stayed his ass in Florida. Or moved to another country.

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[–] GingerSnap101 8 years ago

I have no pity for him.

He squandered his life and every bit of it was his fault. That Not Guilty verdict was a chance at atonement and he chose a path of self-destruction.

I think you could walk into many prisons and meet many old men who are prisoners that have accepted more responsibility for their actions than this tired old man.

Ron Shipp said it best. He kept getting away with things and nobody stopped him.

Until he met a judge in Las Vegas with a backbone.

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[–] joeishotterthantimberflake 8 years ago

Until he met a judge in Las Vegas with a backbone

That's exactly what's wrong with his sentence. Her sentence was payback and lets you know he had no chance of a fair trial. Based on what justice is supposed to be, the justice everyone claims was taken from Ron and Nicole, her sentence was repugnant and it's a good thing she's no longer on the bench.

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[–] dxben99 8 years ago

Well, as they say "Two wrongs don't make it right, they make it even." ;)

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[–] catbookss 8 years ago

his children were lucky to turn out sane.

We don't know if they have or not. Jason has had a lot of problems. We really don't know about the other three, but for Sydney and Justin it'd be impossible to emerge from their situation without having some serious problems. Imagine knowing your mom was viciously murdered while you were left upstairs sleeping, and then finding out your father was arrested and tried for it, and most of the world believes he did it, even if he was given a verdict of not guilty.

OJ's not a good guy. He's a narcissist, and they make terrible parents because all they care about is themselves.

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[–] wrightinchicago 8 years ago

OJ's not a good guy. He's a narcissist, and they make terrible parents because all they care about is themselves

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Well, I dunno....Trump is accused of being a narcissist and his kids turned out OK...maybe because they had Ivana as a mom?
And KimK is accused of being a narcissist, and her kids so far are turning out to be normal...of course they're just babes.
I do wish the Browns were allowed to keep Jason and Sydney....that must have been heartbreaking. I also think that Lew Brown passed away a few years ago; correct?

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[–] catbookss 8 years ago

Trump is most likely a narcissist. I didn't think I'd like Ivana, until I saw her in an interview, and was surprised to find her so down to earth. Anyway, yeah, I'm sure she helped her kids a lot.

I've never heard Kim K being accused of being a narcissist. There's a difference between having some narcissistic traits, and actually having narcissistic personality disorder. I don't know that I'd agree her kids are turning out normal though, lol.

I wish the Browns had been able to kept them too. Yes, I heard Lew Brown passed away a year or two ago.

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[–] GingerSnap101 8 years ago

Sydney and Justin choose to hide from the public. It's safe to say they are well aware of the history of their father. Difficult to say how much of it they accept, but they are still close to Nicole's family. Both were recently photographed at the wedding of Denise Brown's son, who seems to be a celebrity himself.

There was a story out there that Sydney worked for a time in Atlanta in the older brother's restaurant under the name of Portia. It seems that OJs sister was a caterer and has had to change her name in order to get work. If her clients learn who she is, she loses their business.

They choose not to talk publicly about this. At some level, they must have come to terms with it. They wouldn't be the first children of a parent who has murdered their mother. Some kids deny it, some accept it, and some never forgive their fathers.

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[–] catbookss 8 years ago

I've been reading the depositions for the civil trial. It was sad to read that when Nicole told Sydney she and OJ were getting back together, Sydney pleaded with Nicole for them to not. She said she didn't want "the fighting to begin again." So Sydney knew about it. Justin may have been too young, but probably he heard it too and just didn't say anything about it.

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[–] bbb984 8 years ago

I doubt they came out unscathed. His daughter was a gorgeous 8 year old or so at the time or the murders, and now she's humongous.

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[–] IMDb-Rot_in_Hell 8 years ago

.........creepy

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[–] bbb984 8 years ago

??

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[–] bythelake123 8 years ago

I doubt they came out unscathed. His daughter was a gorgeous 8 year old or so at the time or the murders, and now she's humongous.

If you read Mike Gilbert's book entitled "How I Helped OJ Get Away with Murder", the kids didn't have too easy of a time once they moved to Florida with OJ. He basically ignored them and then went on womanizing, doing drugs, going to strip clubs, doing marginal/low class projects to earn money, etc. Mike Gilbert talks about how he felt sorry for OJ's kids. He said Sydney was involved in sports in high school and how OJ didn't go to any of her games and how he continually embarrassed his children with his outrageous behavior.

I don't know what type of relationship he has with his children now, but I read that he helped his daughter move into her dorm when she started college at Boston University. That was over 10+ years ago though.

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[–] bbb984 8 years ago

Interesting. They definitely weren't unscathed. Too bad he didn't just let the Browns raise them.

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[–] catbookss 8 years ago

I've been reading the depositions from the civil trial, and when Nicole told Sydney she and OJ were going to try to reconcile, Sydney begged her to not because she didn't want the fighting to start again. So she heard the fights. Very sad. Probably Justin heard too.

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[–] bbb984 8 years ago

I have a friend who is divorced and the kids had some sort of counseling at school - and his young son (at the time) said to the counselor that he's glad the fighting is going to be over............They were just verbal, unlike the Simpsons, but still traumatizing for a kid.

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[–] bythelake123 8 years ago

Wow! Just finished the last part. OJ really went over the top. A rapper? Threesomes? Cocaine?? More women? He was really pathetic, and his children were lucky to turn out sane.

It's really sad to see how far he fell, especially since he was so concerned about his image before the murders. I guess he figured since he would never have his squeaky clean image back he just decided to see how low he could go.

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[–] llll2000 8 years ago

Simpson was a bad guy, but the sentence was a disgrace. Most people think he belongs in jail for life for killing 2 people, but it doesn't work that way. If he's paroled next year, I'll be fine with that.

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[–] gbean2397 8 years ago

Ikr. I didn't think he would have such a downfall like that, but... damn. Talk about crash and burn. What really got me the most was when he was standing by the road with the bags of oranges and the cardboard sign.

This was without a doubt, a superstar's Greek tragedy.

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[–] gimmedacash 8 years ago

What really got me the most was when he was standing by the road with the bags of oranges and the cardboard sign.

That was for a TV show he was pitching, kind of like Punk'd but with OJ instead of Ashton Kutcher.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800100/

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[–] Goodbye_Ruby_Tuesday 8 years ago

You can watch it in its entirety here, there was only one airing on Direct TV before it went onto DVD. It's really unclear what the intention of the show was, it seems so tonally weird and misguided, like most reality shows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfFyrZLvw7Y&t=858s

It's also the subject of a good This American Life podcast episode for what it's worth. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/564/too-soon

Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!

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