News Corp. Cancels Simpson TV Special

NEW YORK, November
21: Following growing public outcry and resistance from TV affiliates and
advertisers, News Corp. has abandoned its plans to broadcast If I Did It, a two part interview with O.J. Simpson that had
been scheduled to air on Fox on November 27 and 29.

News Corp. has also
cancelled its plans to publish the accompanying book of the same name, which
was to have been issued by ReganBooks, an imprint of New Corp.-owned
HarperCollins. The book would have been available in book stores on November
30.

In both the book
and the TV program, the former football star who was tried and acquitted of the
1994 slayings of his wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, tells how
he would have conducted the murders had he been the perpetrator.

Even though
Simpson’s statements are said to be entirely hypothetical, ReganBooks president
Judith Regan termed Simpson’s interview a “confession.” HarperCollins has
recalled all books already shipped to book retailers and says it will destroy
them.

In a statement,
News Corp. chief executive 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 that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole
Brown Simpson."

Although Simpson was
acquitted of the murders in 1995, he was later found liable for the deaths in a
wrongful-death suit filed by the Goldman family. By law, he cannot be tried
again in a criminal court for the murders.

A dozen Fox network
affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part special, scheduled
during sweeps month, and some book stores had declined to sell the book. There
was also growing resistance from TV advertisers, who didn’t want to buy time on
the program.

The cancellation of
the high-profile Simpson program comes at a bad time for Fox, which has
experienced a tough TV season so far, with sagging ratings and no hit shows.