How truly big/monumental was the OJ Simpson trial?
Posted by Own-Cellist9339@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 234 comments
Hey guys, I’ve been kind of curious about this for a while. I know that 150 million people tuned in for the verdict (half the US population), but how impactful was in day-to-day life? Did people simply just temporarily marvel and then move on? Were their debates constantly if the verdict was correct or not?
Ok-Equivalent8260@reddit
Huge
MamaLlama629@reddit
If the glove don’t fit you must acquit
suzemagooey@reddit
For those into it, a big deal. For those not into it, the media hype seemed ridiculous.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
I mean it was a big deal
suzemagooey@reddit
Only if one agrees with what the media claims as a big deal.
Many others, including me, do not. I was in a related business and many media outlets were quietly struggling to survive as the internet encroached prior to the OJ trial.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
I mean it literally changed the game. How we consume news crime trials it changed the game.
It made celebrities out of people. The Kardashians for one. The people involved the key players.
I was only a kid and changed things. But you entitled to your opinion.
suzemagooey@reddit
Celebrity worship in the US began long before then. Granted media morphed into entertainment at about the same time as the OJ trial but the trial did not cause that shift. It was the 24 hour competition for profits from massive conglomerates that did that. Causal is different from correlational.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Disagree
Efflux@reddit
I was in elementary school and they wheeled the TV into the lunch room for the verdict. As if a bunch of kids had any idea what was happening. The adults just wanted to watch.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Yup same thing happened to us but I was in school and followed the case...
ComeSeptember@reddit
Yep, we watched parts of the end of it and then the verdict in the start of the school year during sixth grade social studies class as "current events." I was 11, turning 12 when it was going on.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
I used to watch the stories in current affair. Hard copy all those tabloid shows. I ate it up
marchmay@reddit
Staying up late to watch Hard Copy like it was Showtime.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Oh it was afterschool for me lol watched that instead of cartoons lol
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
I watched the chase and all the way to the verdict was announced. That was my summer
too_too2@reddit
I was in 6th grade and I remember listening to it on the radio during school. It was huge news.
Linzabee@reddit
I was in middle school and they turned on all the TVs in the classrooms so we could watch the verdict live. I remember I was in choir class, and me and my friend Matt were the only two who didn’t cheer when they said not guilty.
sacrelicio@reddit
I was in high school and this shitty ginger kid ran out of the room crying
sadthrow104@reddit
I wonder if they still have the tv cart in schools. Obviously flatscreens now.
marchmay@reddit
They have permanent screens called SmartBoards.
byamannowdead@reddit
I remember everybody watching on the day of the verdict too. You could hear cheers and groans up and down the hallways.
latelyimawake@reddit
Same! I grew up in LA so the teachers were all super on edge that we were in for more riots if he was convicted.
Ambitious-Elk5705@reddit
I was in first grade during the trial and I remember the principle getting on the intercom to announce the verdict.
Other than that, I know it was a big thing, but it didn't affect me that much at 6-7 yrs old.
CloudBitter5295@reddit
Same I was in kindergarten and my teacher was a nun who was very invested lol
NoLongerATeacher@reddit
I was teaching when the verdict was announced. I remember carrying my Walkman with me when I brought my students to the cafeteria, and the verdict was announced as soon as I dropped them off.
I was standing kind of stunned in the hallway when my TA came up and said “Now they can find the real killer!”
🙄
Zealousideal_Draw_94@reddit
All of the TV movies, all those trial TV shows, all those True Crime podcasts came about from the ratings that OJ coverage had.
WandaTrusslerBeauty@reddit
It was almost literally the only thing in the news for months. That’s hyperbole, but being a young teen at the time that’s how it felt.
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IanDOsmond@reddit
People are still mad about it today.
Me, my opinion is that OJ absolutely did it, but the LAPD framed him anyway, just because that's what they did. They manufactured evidence just out of habit, even though they didn't have to.
And because of that, everything was tainted and they couldn't bring in enough of the real evidence that hadn't been handled wrong to convict him - and that's how it is supposed to work. Murderers are dangerous to the social fabric, but police who don't follow the law are worse.
Perfect_Ad9311@reddit
There is a theory that his oldest son, from a previous marriage, was the actual murderer and OJ helped him cover it up.
CaliforniaSun77@reddit
Yeah. He did it and was rightfully acquitted because the LAPD was cartoonishly evil and incompetent. I think they pretty much cleaned house after so it also ended up making the department better. I mean the bar is in Hell, but still.
eternal_casserole@reddit
It was wild. I was in high school at the time, and my school canceled all extra curricular activities at the time because race tension was so high. The amount of fighting at our school was ridiculous.
In a completely unrelated situation, one of the teachers there was murdered by students the following year. Nothing to do with race, but high school was a bit of a wild ride.
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
It was really big news. Everyone was following it. There were massive racial undertones to the discussion on it. Monumental maybe isn't the word I would use, but it dominates the news landscape for weeks and months.
Better_Pea248@reddit
My family moved from southern California to the east coast between his arrest and the trial. It was a big deal in California, but I was surprised that my teacher across the country brought in a radio for us to listen to the news as the verdict was announced. Wasn’t even during history class, it was drama.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
It was a big deal everywhere. I was in TX and they put it on TV for the class.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
I was in Minnesota during that. It was, if not the top story, one of the top stories every night on the news. Our computer professor brought in a TV so we could watch the verdict. He was so mad when it was announced, he didn't say a word for a minute, then said through gritted teeth "Class dismissed." (We still had 45 minutes) and then went in his office, slammed the door and you could hear things getting slammed around.
We found out later he cancelled his classes for the rest of the day and went home, he was that furious.
ThePickleConnoisseur@reddit
Dude got away with it
Perfect_Ad9311@reddit
There is a theory, by an author who wrote a book, that OJ's oldest son, by another mother, who held a grudge against his dad's newer, younger family, he actually murdered Nicole and her friend in a fit of rage and OJ helped him get away with it.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Wow. That is wild. Thanks for sharing
fattycatty6@reddit
Listened to the verdict on the radio in my 8th grade English class!
PacSan300@reddit
My family and I were living outside of the US at the time, and even there it was major news, evidently (I was too young to fully understand it back then, so my parents told me later). Apparently, at least a couple of other locals asked my parents about the trial after learning that they had moved from the US.
VentusHermetis@reddit
i believe it
LAWriter2020@reddit
Well, OJ was an actor, and even gave a great dramatic performance during the trial “struggling” to put blood-soaked leather gloves that had shrunk (as leather does when it gets wet) on over latex gloves, which set up Johnnie Cochran’s famous line: “if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”.
Great daytime soap opera - better than the scripted shows.
AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit
He also stopped taking his medication in the days leading up to that stunt so he hand swelled up.
marchmay@reddit
We watched it in class in NC.
Melora_T_Rex714@reddit
I lived just outside Washington DC at that time and it was all over the tv.
Mattrellen@reddit
I was in elementary school.
It was lunch time.
The lunch jady came out and said "innocent."
Everyone started booing.
It was so all encompassing that a bunch of 10 year olds new what was going on and had quite the overwhelming reaction.
ProbablyAPotato1939@reddit
A lot of people don't realize how tense race relations were in the early 90s, the LA Riots were so bad that President Bush had to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in federal troops to restore order.
Pepe__Le__PewPew@reddit
This also created a new character class known as roof Koreans.
Puckfiend94@reddit
I lived a bit south of LA and have a picture of National Guard vehicles driving up the 5 freeway towards LA that I took from my work parking lot.
Forsaken_Republic_98@reddit
oh it was monumental, that's a perfect word for what it was at the time.
Melora_T_Rex714@reddit
Not to mention that they televised the trial! My dad was addicted to it, lol.
Flat-Illustrator-548@reddit
It was huge! I was in college, and both the car chase and the trial were a huge deal. This was before social media. Most people didn't even have cell phones. We found out about the chase by word of mouth. We watched the trial in our dorm rooms when we could. Most of the general public didn't know what DNA was at the time, and most people had never watched a trial on TV. Even those of us who had absolutely no knowledge of sports knew who OJ was because he starred on Hertz Car Rental commercials. They were all over TV when I was growing up. I still remember the image of him running through airports! He also acted in some very popular comedy films.
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
When it was time for the verdict my high school German teacher stopped class and turned on the television so we could all watch.
Everyone who couldn't be glued to a T.V. was glued to a radio.
You had to be living under a rock not to hear about it constantly. Everyone over the age of 5 was discussing it. Kindergarteners were running around screaming "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!" My grandma watched an argument break out at her weekly Bingo Night because one old person thought he was innocent and the other old person said he was guilty.
It was HUGE.
Mumchkin@reddit
This was a time when the news cycle wasn't instantaneous. The chase on the freeway was on every news story, and was shown ad nauseum.
The subsequent months and really years were very difficult.
Pablo_is_on_Reddit@reddit
I was a kid at the time. All I know is that it kept pre-empting things I actually wanted to watch. What a pain in the ass it was.
funkoramma@reddit
I think my sociology professor cancelled class so he/we could all watch the verdict. Back then, there wasn’t a great option to watch it on live tv in a college classroom. My entire dorm crowded around our one TV in the common room to watch. Half the room jeered and half the room cheered at the verdict.
During the slow pursuit of the white Bronco, I was working in a KMart electronics department. Every single display tv was showing that chase and it seemed like everyone was crammed into the department watching it.
eugenesbluegenes@reddit
That slow chase pissed me off as a thirteen year old basketball fan who DGAF about football. They put the NBA finals on a little corner screen so they could show that boring ass chase. This was Hakeem versus Ewing! C'mon!
Puckfiend94@reddit
I was at a sports bar in Orange County watching the game with a friend who was from NY. He kept screaming at the TV to put the Knicks game back on. He was pissed. 🤣
Vyckerz@reddit
I do have to say it was a pretty big deal.
It was all over TV in the news. People were talking about it all the time.
The director of the department I worked for in my company was obsessed with it and had the final days of the trial broadcast in one of the big conference rooms every day, and allowed people to go in there during their breaks to watch.
And then he would usually have discussions about it with whoever wanted to talk about it
I lived very close to my office at the time, and so I would go home often to watch it. At the time I had a lot of downtime as I only had a few hours of real work to do and my boss didn’t care as long as I was accessible when he needed. So every minute I could, I watched the trial, I estimate I probably watched about 75% of it.
During the verdict broadcast, there were probably about 75 people packed into the conference room.
Kellzy1212@reddit
We watched a lot of it in school. It was my senior year and all the teachers were obsessed, so they’re played it when they could.
PittsburghCar@reddit
It was all everyone was talking about. I went to a Phish show when OJ and Al were running and Trey was giving updates during the show.
shelwood46@reddit
It was huge. It was before the days of being able to pull up a video instantly, pre-internet, and you couldn't really tape it because it was unpredictable in timing, so people just tried to catch live tv, all the time, especially for the verdict. It got discussed on talk shows, Leno had the "Dancing Itos" (Lance Ito was the judge on the case), it was everywhere. Discussed constantly. It was the first time we heard the name Kardashian. OJ's house guest was able to become a minor celebrity for a while. And it did not stop with the verdict. It triggered the LA Riots. It inspired so much future crime fiction (books, moves, tv shows/episodes). It made car chases ubiquitous on tv, at least in the LA area. It brought domestic violence into the spotlight in a way it hadn't before. Oh, and of course, it ended OJ's acting career.
HeyPurityItsMeAgain@reddit
I watched it every day on CNN between classes while I was running DNA swabs in the biology lab. When the verdict came in the lab went apeshit (there was lots of confusion about DNA). I've been watching trials on CourtTV ever since.
jginvest71@reddit
It made CNN, well, CNN
BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit
We watched the verdict live in class in 4th grade
Electrical-Let-6121@reddit
Big
_Smedette_@reddit
It was huge. I was in high school and the teacher let us watch the verdict on tv.
ImHidingFromMy-@reddit
I was in elementary school at the time and I remember all the teachers turned on the trial in our classrooms to watch the verdict. I was too young to really understand what was going on or who he even was.
SavannahInChicago@reddit
I was in 4th grade. I just remember it being everywhere on the news and we watched the verdict in class. It was not apart of a lesson or anything.
BrazilianButtCheeks@reddit
If you remember the Kacie Anthony trial it was similar!
IPreferDiamonds@reddit
I am 58 years old and remember it. The day of the verdict announcement, we went during lunch to Circuit City to watch the verdict.
peanutbuttervvs@reddit
It has come up at least like 6 times in law school (no other specific trial has come up that many times)
GreenBeanTM@reddit
Big enough that by and large Gen Z literally only knows OJ as “the guy that definitely got away with murder”. I learned like 4 years ago that he was a football player, and learned this year that he apparently had a nickname and very famous catchphrase while a player.
NowWatchMeThwip616@reddit
Yes it was a long, long trial, baby.
When it was over, I couldn't believe it.
On and on and on... News sweeping the ratings,
It was a long, long trial, baby.
nomadschomad@reddit
Huge deal. Captivated the country for a year and a half.
My mom stole my walkman so she could listen to the car chase at my brother’s Little League baseball game.
I snuck my walkman to school in sixth grade so I could listen to the verdict. Our recess monitor was going to bust me and confiscate up until she found out what I was listening to. And then she stuck around so she could find out with me.
Porcupine-in-a-tree@reddit
I was six years old at the time and it is one of my vividest early childhood memories.
Free-Holiday-6218@reddit
My junior highschool literally marched us all into the gymnasium so we could watch the verdict live on the “Court TV” channel as though it were a school assembly, lol
Odd-Condition-4773@reddit
It was huge. I was in college student union, and everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the verdict on TV. Everyone was silent. When they announced he was not guilty there was a big “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???” resounding among everyone. 🤦♂️
Repulsive_Repeat_337@reddit
It dominated the conversation for a year leading up to the verdict. After the verdict It went away fairly quickly. I don't think this was because anyone was trying to erase it; I think it's because towards the end of the trial, the Oklahoma City bombing happened. So once OJ was over and done with, the press quickly moved on to that.
HoldOnHelden@reddit
I was a kid at the time but I remember it being absolutely INESCAPABLE. It was news on every channel, headlines in every newspaper, small talk on every radio, and the only things adults seemed to discuss.
LQNova@reddit
It was the only topic of discussion anywhere and everywhere.
kichwas@reddit
No one really cared about the actual facts.
To White people it was "Black man not only stole one of our women, he also killed her."
To Black people it was "They're going after this guy only because he had a White woman, just like they always do, and the cops are planting evidence."
Those perspectives still shape how people think about it...
The rest of us who aren't Black or White picked our narratives based on how society tended to treat people of our 'shade'.
As for the facts - he probably did it, but also the trial had the right outcome because that one cop with a troubling narrative in his history did mess with the evidence by taking something off scene. In our system, when there is corruption in the investigation it is supposed to lead to the outcome it led to, in order to very strongly discourage corrupt conduct.
Thing is... that one cop didn't need to mess with things. Had he not, the verdict would have almost certainly gone the other way. This was a case where they had a pile of evidence. But one fool decided to mess with it anyway.
The one takeaway most police departments failed to learn from this was that if you have an officer with a known history of racial bias - letting them go anywhere near a case involving race is a bad idea. It can taint even a near 'slam dunk case' like this one by bringing in the standards that call for an acquittal. The US system is NOT about proving innocense, its about proving guilt. So don't put in anything into the case that weakens your argument. Defence doesn't have to prove that a bad cop did bad, Prosecution has to prove that a bad cop didn't taint things. And they had an open question on that. In all liklihood the officer in question didn't do anything - but they couldn't prove he didn't mess with the evidence. Even had he not had a history of racial bias - he also broke the chain of custody by taking evidence into his own possession rather than into evidence.
The case had a massive impact at the time, but almost NONE of the discussion was around the rules of evidence gathering... which is where the case was actually decided.
That's pretty common though.
Folks form a narrative based on media and their own perspectives going in.
I interned with a judge in the late 90s in a case where 4 cops were accused of beating up some guys coming out of a bar. The local media painted it as a bias based case (everyone was White though) because the guys coming out of the bar were local toughs with minor rap sheets and the cops were 'a pack of frat boy drunks'...
The actual facts were radically different, and never showed up in the press. One of the officers had even been in a near full body cast due to an auto accident at the end of a police chase at the time he suppossedly beat these two senseless. They'd wheel this guy into the courtroom and you could see people looking confused like "am I in the right courtroom, where's the violent frat boy cop I read about?"...
But the media painted him as an out of control 'thug of a cop' and I could never convince anyone I knew at the time that they were getting all the facts wrong even though I sat in the court room the whole time and saw the evidence.
People were like "you must be wrong... look at what those cops did..." whereas I'd seen the forensic analysis and witness statements about the actual fight that had happened and not the one I'd read in the local paper.
Boopa0011@reddit
I was like 10 years old when this happened and even I couldn't get away from the constant news coverage and pop culture side stories.
Important to remember that the mid 90s was the last heyday of "mass media" where almost everyone was still watching the same three or four channels and it felt like every cultural conversation/obsession was indirectly controlled by a central authority.
Joel_feila@reddit
my school announced the verdict in the middle of the day when it came out. Yeah 7 year old to 14 all heard it over the pa system. It was just big, even little kids had to hear about because that was all the adults were talking about, it was on all the news.
lavasca@reddit
I lived in the area when it happened so it had a daily impact. It was a PITA to get to the supermarket. You couldn’t cross the street without tourists bombarding you with questions. The reason it was so bad is that people made the murder scene, OJ’s house and Ron’s restaurant destinations!
Absolutely insane!
This event made Court TV a sustainable cable channel for years.
rosycross93@reddit
It was so huge that I took my summer vacation in Canada thinking I could get away from it, but it was just as big there
Mysterious_Luck4674@reddit
It was a big deal. I coincidentally got my tonsils out the day the trial started and was home from school for a week. That’s all that was on day time tv - live coverage of the trial. Many day time shows were cancelled to show the trial instead. It was right when trials were first starting to be televised so it was a big deal. I also remember being in the school cafeteria when the verdict was announced, and a ton of people all gathered around a radio at a lunch table waiting to hear what it was.
Racial tensions were super high, especially in LA after the Rodney King beating. There was a lot resting on the outcome of the trial. I recommend watching American Crime Story: OJ Simpson for a pretty good reenactment of what things were like at the time.
AtheneSchmidt@reddit
I was 9 when it happened, not a sports fan of any kind. It was the first time in my life I remember discussing something from the actual news with my friends at school. Before that, I also don't remember ever really seeing news, my parents usually only watched it after all the kids were in bed.
I feel like that says a lot about how massive a story it was.
jf737@reddit
I’m 50 and it’s arguably the biggest pop culture event of my lifetime. From the Bronco chase (which happened during the NBA Finals) thru the trial, it was just omnipresent. You couldn’t get away from it, everyone had an opinion.
Of course there was more monoculture then. Pre smart phones, sort of pre-internet. Certainly before being online was prevalent.
Frondelet@reddit
It was a big deal for everyone but my family. The day he was arrested my stepfather was run over at work, and died the next month. Some celebrity across the country didn't get much of our attention.
ScienceJamie76@reddit
Let's put it this way. I know exactly what I was doing when the verdict was announced. In my lifetime there were only 2 other times this happened (when I found out about the Challenger disaster and 9/11)
normiepitbullmom@reddit
Which one?
GooseNYC@reddit
It was bigger than any recent celebrity trial. It was shown every day, and one national network, I forget which one but it was likely Fox, had a daily show called, "OJ Today," where they would discuss the day's developments.
But you have to remember, the internet was just up and running and very few non-tech people had access, etc., so there was no form of social media meaning user generated cointent.
Also, OJ Simpson, even though he was a retured football player from pri.arily thr 1970s, who did a few goof movies, was one the most recognizable people at the time, and his overall reputation was pretty spotless. So between the lack of 24/7 social media to get lost in. Plus the absolute shock that someone considered a "nice guy" by the clueless masses would suddenly murder his ex wife and her friend in cold blood, with a knife no less was what drove the interest. It would be like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bruant, etc., just going out and doing it.
Finally, there were definitely racial overtones. This happened in LA right after the Rodney King beating and the cops being acquired, which led to riots.
I lived in LA for a while, but I left right before the murders occurred. The LA cops at the time were bastards. I am white and was in law school and got hassld over stupid things, I cannot imagine how they treated people who were Black and poor. The verdict should have surprised no one. Did he do it, of course he did. But the Black community had been so oppressed by the LAPD, everyone knew someone who had been beaten by th cops, had something planted, etc., convincing a jury they did it to OJ was not a heavy lift.
My two cents, worth exactly that.
LogicalFallacyCat@reddit
It was such a big deal that when the verdict was read, so many people stopped what they were doing to listen or watch that it was the single least productive half hour in US history.
Nico-DListedRefugee@reddit
One of my coworkers brought a TV into work so we could watch the verdict. We then talked about the verdict for the rest of the shift.
tcrhs@reddit
The trial was everywhere. On television, on the radio, in all the newspapers and magazines. You could not avoid it if you tried.
HermioneMarch@reddit
I actively tried not to pay attention to it and yet saw it all the time. Tbf this was before streaming, so you watched what was on Tv or you tuned TV off.
zholly4142@reddit
At the time the jury decision was announced, I was teaching a class for brand new teachers for a very large school district. When the students began arriving, they asked if we could not do class that day because they wanted to watch the jury decision. So it was really big.
lizerlfunk@reddit
My teachers turned the TV on in my elementary school classroom when the verdict came in. The only other time that a news event was that compelling that we had to turn it on in the classroom was September 11.
My brother’s babysitter at the time was an elderly Black woman. She was the only person I knew who was 100% convinced that OJ didn’t do it. She watched the entire trial on CNN at my parents’ house while watching my brother. I was a kid so I didn’t pay that much attention but we sure knew how she felt about it.
distracted_x@reddit
Everyone knew about it even if they didn't watch the trial. I was a kid and did not watch the news yet still heard all about it. Everyone did.
listenyall@reddit
So big it's hard to imagine now. Like it was the main story for months in a way that literally nothing is the main story for months anymore
vabeachkevin@reddit
The summer of the trial I was working nights, so literally every single day I was watching every second of the trial live. It was a pretty big deal.
TheFlannC@reddit
It reminded me of a soap but in real life. I was in college and it was always on in the student center. Yes there was a horrible backlash around the verdict--people mostly thought he was guilty and just got off because of his fame and being able to hire a good lawyer and such
Emeah824@reddit
It was just something to talk about. Entertainment because he was a celebrity
GoddessOfOddness@reddit
It was probably the most watched trial ever. Television was preempted to show testimony.
Everyone my age (50s) knows Lance Ito (judge), Marcia Clark, Chris Darden (prosecutors), Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, (defense team), Kato Kaelin (failed actor living in guesthouse who testified), Mark Fuhrman (cop who denied using racial slurs but was found guilty of perjury when tapes of him using those words surfaced. It was the single biggest blow to the prosecution’s case because his lie put the prosecution’s case in doubt).
The Tonight Show had a recurring gag with “the Dancing Itos”, five guys who looked a little like him dancing in black judge robes.
getElephantById@reddit
I'll put it this way: I just looked it up and it was 16 months from the murder to the acquittal, with the trial only lasting nine months. If you'd asked me yesterday, I would have guessed it took about five years. It was on the news day, it was what the talk shows talked about every night, it was the front page of every magazine at the grocery store. It was huge. We took time out of high school math class to watch the verdict.
DrBlankslate@reddit
Huge news. Everyone talked about it. It was a common topic of conversation for the entire trial and a while afterwards - the weather, the economy, and the OJ trial.
DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit
it was a huge deal
No_Stand8812@reddit
They preempted pretty much all daytime programming for updates and it briefly made courttv the highest rated network during the day. Schools stopped classes when the verdict came out. It led the nightly news almost daily for months upon months.
With today’s spaghetti like media ecosystem it’s tough to explain to a young person how big this was. You can live all day long now and not be aware of major stories because nobody watches the news anymore. Back then you couldn’t do that. If you were watching tv l, even at night, you would hear about it.
Leno and letterman during that time pulled in around 10 million viewers a night. Today the late night ratings are less than half that and the nation is much bigger. And the trial was covered relentlessly on late night, especially on Leno who had higher ratings at the time.
Huge. This was huge. I always say 9/11 was the last shared cultural experience America will ever have since now most people consume less than 10 minutes of news a week. The ok trial was not 9/11 but it’s closer to that in terms of coverage and following than anything that has come since then by a country mile.
pikkdogs@reddit
It was on the news all the time and on everything like the news.
That’s not going to mean anything today.
But this was the day of the monoculture. Everyone watched the same shows and saw the same news. It was a big echo chamber that everyone lived in. And that’s all we heard for years. So yeah. It was the crime of the decade for sure.
Black_Dog_Industries@reddit
It was huge.
As a kid growing up in the 80s I remember my dad and his friends talking about The Juice and how great he was in the 70s.
I remember OJs Hertz car rental commercials and his part in the Naked Gun movies.
It was unbelievable that someone so well known and respected could have murdered 2 people.
When the trial started, it was impossible to miss the details because it was covered daily in newspapers, television and the tabloids.
AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit
It was huge. OJ was a beloved sports figure. The news of the murder was shocking and the Bronco pursuit was all over the news. When the trial started it was a spectacle on the news every day. People followed it closely due to the star power, drama, and racial issues. There was no love loss between LAPD and the black community after Rodney King trial just a few years earlier.
I remember the day if the verdict I was in high school French class and our teacher let us tuen on the classroom TV and watch the verdict live (we never watched live TV in any class).
It was a big freakin deal.
Mopar907AK@reddit
I barely noticed. For me and many people like me, it was just another celebrity in court. I think most people only tuned in for curiosity or because it was a conversation starter.
RestRare3056@reddit
I watched every second of it and I was 10. I watched all the news coverage. I watched the bronco chase in a huge group of kids while we ate pizza on an AAU track trip. It changed the media landscape forever and is kind of a blueprint for scandalous legal cases. We wouldn’t have had court tv or most crime shows without it. We probably wouldn’t have the Kardashians without it. The Menendez brothers prob wouldn’t still be in jail without it. It was huge.
jigokubi@reddit
It was a huge deal.
I recently read that 98 million people watched the white-Bronco car chase.
OJ Simpson was a big celebrity. In addition to his sports fame, he appeared in movies, did commercials, had a fitness video, etc.
FilthyMindz69@reddit
Felt like it was the only thing going on in the world for much of it.
I was in high school at the time.
aaffdff@reddit
it was huge at the time like ppl really stopped and watched it almost like nonstop news coverage everywhere, and yeah the verdict debate kinda stuck around for years after but day to day life eventually moved on once the media cycle shifted
Ok-Following9124@reddit
We watched the final day of the trial during school lol
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
It wasn't that big for 99% of working class folks
Pernicious_Possum@reddit
Huge. It was the first time a crime like that was covered so thoroughly from start to finish
CurrencyCapital8882@reddit
It was the trial of the century … of the year.
iaminabox@reddit
I was a kid. I was a teen I didn't care about news or politics or tv.
agitatedandroid@reddit
It was a constant topic of discussion.
Guy_Incognito1013@reddit
We watched the verdict in the library at high school.
AdelleDeWitt@reddit
It was huge. It was what people talked about everyday. I was in Middle School and when they read the verdict they had us all come into the gym to watch it together.
Adventurous_Button63@reddit
I remember spending weeks with my grandparents and they’d have it set to the news station all day. The morning news covered the previous days trial happenings, then the televised broadcast of the case would begin, then the evening news would distill the day into reports, and the next day it’d start again.
somecow@reddit
It was. But the bronco chase was better.
Spickernell@reddit
the jokes that sprang from the whole OJ thing were the best part of it all. "whats the difference between OJ and Christopher Reeve? OJs gunna walk!"
OriginalSilentTuba@reddit
I was in 7th grade social studies class. My teacher wheeled the TV in the room and we all watched it. An entire class of 7th graders, glued to the TV to watch a news broadcast about a criminal trial verdict.
It was a massive story, definitely dominated the culture at the time.
longipetiolata@reddit
Trading on the NYSE stopped to watch the verdict.
I worked at a stock brokerage at the time. When it was announced that the jury was returning with the verdict, everyone ran to different rooms where there were TVs to watch. I was in one broker’s office and he had a tv on and also his Bloomberg machine monitoring traffic on the NYSE. Just before the verdict was read, there were no trades; volume was zero.
markuus99@reddit
Absolutely inescapable
bigevilgrape@reddit
I was in history class and the teacher announced it.
ScatterTheReeds@reddit
HUGE - the media “circus” was insane.
angrymurderhornet@reddit
It was a big deal. Everyone knew, really, that OJ did it. The brainless racism of the LAPD completely undermined their own case against him.
CommercialExotic2038@reddit
We're still talking about it decades later.
boomgoesthevegemite@reddit
I was a young child and remember it vividly being on tv all the time for what seemed like forever.
Physical-Incident553@reddit
Very big.
SockSock81219@reddit
Extremely big news. It was also the birth of cable news and this whole concept of a whole news-dedicated program broadcasting 24/7. Previously, it was just network news broadcasts at dedicated times, like 7 pm or 10 pm, and that was it, that was the news of the day. No live camera getaway chase or courtroom drama broadcasting day and night until CNN came on the scene.
I was maybe 13-14, and they wheeled a TV into the library so all the classes could come in and watch the verdict being read. It was all anyone could talk about, more heated and discussed than the Super Bowl.
PenguinProfessor@reddit
My friend's Grandma taped the whole thing on a bunch of VHS tapes. This was possible because the entire trial with all the boring parts was broadcast.
SnarkyMouse2@reddit
I was in college at the time. No one my age was watching it, but a good friend’s dad was obsessed.
Even if you weren’t watching it, between Saturday Night Live and just jokes people were doing, you heard about it all the time. And on the verdict day, our Midwestern campus was super charged..
rangeghost@reddit
I was in grade school and remember kids arguing about it on the school bus.
JasminJaded@reddit
It was HUGE. I was 14 at the time of the murders and followed the chase and everything until he was acquitted over a year later.
Everyone was watching and talking about it or, at minimum, knew what was going on.
kae0603@reddit
My friend watched it during her entire labor and right after delivery!
rawbface@reddit
I watched the verdict in my 4th grade classroom.
olivette00@reddit
Our high school vice principal went from classroom to classroom like Paul Revere announcing the verdict
goblin_hipster@reddit
Look at it this way: when someone says "OJ," I immediately think of OJ Simpson instead of orange juice.
RedditWidow@reddit
I mean, just look at how popular true crime stuff is now. This was happening in real time, to someone really popular and famous (or infamous). It was also one of the first "gavel to gavel" televised trials, in a time before the internet. We're used to everyone posting videos and pictures of everything now, but back then it was quite the novelty to be able to watch every single second of a real-life drama unfolding.
Independent-Story883@reddit
Very big.
Lots of layers to this onion. Race a big backdrop. It was not simply a murder trial
But I think there have been enough documentaries on the different points of view. If you like this rabbit hole
Icy-Whale-2253@reddit
My mom described it as imagine if LeBron was in that situation.
Responsible_Side8131@reddit
It pretty much took over daytime tv
zoppaTheDim@reddit
No real debates, except online trolls who tried to make it a litmus test for racism.
Oh and the idiots who got confused a dozen years later. and thought the LA riots were about OJ.
AKA-Pseudonym@reddit
Massive in a way that's probably hard to understand for younger people. Back in a narrower media environment you ended up following something like this by default. Even if you weren't especially interested, it was just there. And when the verdict came out it was such a subject of interest you just kind of had to watch.
I was in college and it was scheduled to come out right between two classes for me so I brought a handheld radio with me so I could listen in. And I hadn't really been all that into it. But it was just a big event so I felt like I had to.
idster@reddit
There were people who were obsessed and would watch every day. But I definitely remember the announcement that a verdict would be read the following day and the speculation about what a fast verdict meant.
Impressive-Safety191@reddit
I worked in an office with over 200 people, and they allowed us to listen to our radios with headphones during the trial… shit got real when the verdict was read.
gregorythegreyhound@reddit
My white-haired strait-laced 9th grade Geometry teaching stopped class so we all could watch the verdict live on the in room tv.
Southern_Blue@reddit
I remember Rodney King and Reginald Denny.
SuperPomegranate7933@reddit
We watched it in class. 4th grade.
ZombiePrepper408@reddit
OJ Simpson was incredibly famous before this.
It'd be like Patrick Mahomes or Peyton Manning; the whole country would follow the story.
GinX-@reddit
It was so big, I literally turned off TV news and never turned it back on again. I worked for a large company at the time and people were allowed to gather in a conference room to hear the verdict.
ljculver64@reddit
Pretty F* big. It was on in bars instead of sports. It was pretty inescapable
CaliforniaSun77@reddit
It was massive. It's hard to explain how beloved OJ was before the murders. He was everywhere.
Then there was the slow speed car chase that preempted the NBA finals! The trial was a circus and I was at USC during the end of it.
The lawyers and judge were household names, it indirectly led to the damn Kardashians becoming stars, and spawned a TV network.
People were nervous about possible riots, and i was in class when they announced the verdict. Kid was listening on the radio and announced it. People were relieved yet still felt he was guilty. The LAPD did themselves no favors in how they investigated.
DynamiteStorm@reddit
It was like a national emergency when the verdict was read ; everyone everywhere stopped to hear the verdict
NoDoOversInLife@reddit
It was televised INTERNATIONALLY. I'd say it was BIG across the globe 🤷🏻♂️
somePig_buckeye@reddit
The OJ trial helped to cause the cancelling of a lot of daytime soap operas. They were constantly being preempted for trial coverage and the viewers lost interest because they would miss entire or parts of episodes. Viewership dropped and never recovered as people turned channels to watch other things.
rileyoneill@reddit
It was huge. I was a kid at the time, the OJ trial displaced afternoon cartoons for a significant chunk of time. When he was acquitted there was footage of people celebrating on TV.
Red_Beard_Rising@reddit
At the time it was a big thing. Mostly for the cultural implications and the justice system. There were some people saying that if he gets convicted, it's because he is black. Other people were saying that if he doesn't get convicted, it just shows that people with money and influence are above the law.
Say only two words: "bloody glove" to anyone who was at least in grade school in 1994 and they will immediately jump to this. I don't know anyone under 30 that doesn't get the two-word reference immediately.
TheBimpo@reddit
Trial of the century. It changed tv news forever. Watch the OJ Made In America series, it does an amazing job.
EnoughEstate7483@reddit
I was in college. We had an electrical engineering lab during the time the verdict was to be announced.
Our lab instructor left the lab to get access to a television. I still remember him rushing back into our lab to announce the not guilty verdict.
We were mostly stunned but the class was mixed race so there needed to be some civility around the follow-on discussions that day and to follow.
Square_Band9870@reddit
The female prosecutor was terrible. That was disappointing.
UsedToBePOS@reddit
From the Bronco chase on TV on a Sunday evening to the day the verdict was announced it was a huge story. Like a soap opera, almost. OJ was a major celebrity at the time he murdered Nicole and Ron. It introduced America to DNA testing. The people involved in the trial became celebrities themselves. Judge Ito, Johnnie Cochran, Mark Fuhrman, etc.
Current_Poster@reddit
Huge, huge news. It was one of about 2-3 events in the 90s responsible for the news media changing into the 24/7 machine we have now.
DryPomegranate2753@reddit
It wasn’t just big news in America. I was visiting friends in Vienna Austria and we went out to a Turkish restaurant. About halfway through dinner a waiter made an announcement turned on a radio and the whole restaurant went silent. I asked my friend what was happening and she responded that the OJ verdict was in. I was surprised they even knew about it, she was just like “of course we know about.” I tried to argue that the verdict couldn’t be back because it literally just went to the jury. The entire restaurant looked at me to stop talking as they were trying to listen to the German radio broadcast.
“No, it is the verdict…he’s not guilty.” The whole restaurant kind of erupted for a moment as they were shocked that could happen. Our waiter realized I was American and immediately started asking me questions about how he could be found not guilty. Then just random people in the restaurant started coming over to our table and either asking me in English or having my friend translate the German “how could you find him not guilty?” And I’m like “I don’t know! You’re the ones who can understand what they’re saying on radio not me. But if I had to guess it may have something to do with Rodney king verdict “. Everyone of them looked at me and acted like “yeah, that makes sense” I was even more surprised at how many of them knew who Rodney king was and how it could affect Oj.
Square_Band9870@reddit
It was massive and it came on the heels of horrific video of the police beating Rodney King (a Black man in Los Angeles).
People’s reactions definitely seemed influenced by their preconceived notions about Black men.
America had to confront the stereotypes about Black men being violent and what does “justice” mean.
Both were heartbreaking stark injustices.
Whoever killed Nicole and her friend Ron was/were never punished.
OsikFTW@reddit
I was in elementary school at the time, we had a tv on every day to watch it instead of doing schoolwork
jrhawk42@reddit
It was mostly a media circus. The biggest social impact was that it was coming off of the LA riots (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots) and many thought that if this trial was mishandled that it would result in more riots. It was also early into trials being televised in the US, and many people's first inside look at how a criminal trial actually works. After the trial constant debates occurred. At the time it was a really a good litmus test to see who people are, how they thought, and how they judge people. You'd be surprised at how many people would convict somebody based on history alone, and how many people wouldn't believe any condemning evidence because the guy was on a Wheaties box (celebrity worship).
RainbowCrane@reddit
As others have said, it was huge.
Part of what you need to understand about the case is that it happened at the intersection of a few big cultural shifts: - cable news was becoming the dominant media source. CNN and Court TV built huge viewership off of the trial. When you hear folks talk about the 24-hour news cycle now, the model of news coverage they’re referring to was created in the mid-90s. There were commentators throwing out opinions literally all day every day to fill the need for 24-hour coverage, and there were stupid levels of speculation. “Well Bob, three jurors were frowning while Kati Kaelin was testifying, that’s not good for the prosecution.” - there was a huge amount of national interest in LAPD police corruption at the time. This was a few years after Rodney King was brutalized by the police and a few years after the corruption in LA’s Rampart Division was exposed. Distrust of the LA police was high among people in general, and particularly high among Black people. - 1995 is before the Web existed at any kind of volume, and thus before YouTube court videos :-). The OJ Trial was the first chance a lot of people had to see courtroom drama play out on video.
So it’s not just the specific facts of the case, it’s also a matter of, “right case, right time,” for it to capture the country’s attention
trustme1maDR@reddit
I was in high school. We didn't have a TV in our classroom, but my teacher stopped class and turned on the radio so we could hear it live. Really big deal
Lost-Time-3909@reddit
I was in (I think) first or second grade in Oklahoma at the time with no awareness of national news. I was very aware of that trial and verdict.
blipsman@reddit
I had a freshman year philosophy class at the time the verdict was scheduled to be read. Of almost 40 in the class, only about 4-5 of us showed that day…
Professor said he was going to give a pop quiz next class, gave the few of us who showed the questions so we could study them before next class.
latelyimawake@reddit
Honestly until 9/11 it was pretty much the biggest thing that ever happened.
MadMadamMimsy@reddit
It was everywhere.
We just happened to be over seas at the time and I was happy to not have it in my face all day, every day, like my family. One small article each day in the English language newspaper was enough for me to stay relevant but not swim in it.
CleverGirlRawr@reddit
It was huge and it was talked about a lot.
Self-Comprehensive@reddit
"Trial of the Century" isn't a title they bestow on just any trial.
Peoplechangetoo@reddit
Huge!! It was the first time that DNA was discussed in such great detail at a trail. This was 1995/6. We were able to follow the trial in real time on Court TV channel.
Carinyosa99@reddit
It was huge news. In fact, when the verdict was announced, everyone in my office stopped to listen to the radio (we didn't have a TV, but I know other people's offices did). It was huge.
msabeln@reddit
OJ was a big football hero with a long stellar sports career, at the same time he acted, appearing in many roles, making high profile endorsements, he had a great reputation with the public, and was considered a role model. He was a media personality for a long time after retiring from sports. He was likely one of the most beloved celebrities of his time.
The crimes were shocking to say the least.
redjessa@reddit
Here in Southern California, it was a HUGE DEAL. It wasn't just that it was OJ, but first there was the Bronco car chase, then the whole investigation, the LAPD, Marcia Clark, the whole trial. We were on pins and needles waiting for the verdict. And the completely blown away when he was acquitted. It was a huge deal at the time. And all these years later, we are still talking about it. Documentaries, tv shows, podcasts, etc. OJ is dead and you are still asking about it.
Cool-Firefighter2254@reddit
It was huge and it actually affected the way I talk about current events. I was convinced OJ was guilty and assumed everyone else thought so also. A coworker accused me of being racist, even though she thought he had paid someone to kill Nicole and Ron. I said, “Then he’s guilty!” It really demonstrated to me the gulf between men and women, white people and Black people, and old and young.
After that argument, I just stopped talking about controversial issues unless I trusted the person. It’s not that I’ll let people spew nonsense around me—if you claim the earth is flat I’ll push back on that. But if a hot topic comes up I’ll make sure that I know what I’m talking about and have facts on my side before I jump in.
To me, that’s the point when public discourse became unbearably contentious. About EVERYTHING. People can get mad about what days the recycling is picked up.
Although CNN had been around since 1980, the OJ Simpson trial made 24-hour-news the expectation for many people. It made household names out of civil servants and neighbors. The constant search for content was amped up. There’s so much news now I don’t think everyone is talking about the same thing anymore. There are huge stories that get buried by the latest headlines.
I date the bombardment of the news and the fragmentation of the audience (people paying attention to whatever their special interest is and only that) to the OJ Simpson trial.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
And it wasn't just the verdict, it was covered intensely all the way up to the verdict. It was everyday news, every day. In a way, the verdict was an anticlimax because that signaled the end. The daily drama was over.
Of course, people still talked about it afterwards, but at that point it became a matter of opinion instead of an unfolding mystery.
Fecapult@reddit
It's hard to imagine in today's diversified world, but back in 94? Everyone was pretty much getting content from 3-5 major channels. Cable was obviously a thing, but nobody really turned it on for news much. The Bronco chase followed by the trial took over the airwaves in a way you wouldn't see again until 9/11 and CNN's daytime viewership skyrocketed, really kick starting the 24-hour news cycle. You couldn't not see it if you were anywhere near a television.
BioDriver@reddit
It was freaking huge and wildly impactful. The racial undertones were obvious, since LA was starting to see the real impact of the Rodney King riots’ aftermath, coupled with the southern strategy moving full steam. As someone else mentioned, the introduction of DNA evidence was brand new and not many people understood it. But as a whole the prosecution greatly blundered their case and the defense exploited it. I remember a friend in law school about 15 years ago saying their professor used the OJ Simpson trial as an example of what NOT to do as a prosecution lawyer.
But culturally it greatly divided people for a good chunk of time. Even to this day when all the evidence had been reviewed and clearly pointed to a guilty verdict, it is still a flashpoint of race relations.
GOTaSMALL1@reddit
I’m old… but everything stopped at work for about an hour when the verdict was announced as we call crowded around the break room TV… and then we all sat around and talked about it.
It was a huge deal.
Mediocre-Oil-5322@reddit
I watched its final verdict in my 6th grade classroom. There weren't many news events for which the A.V. cart got wheeled in. That was one of them. If you were alive in the USA at the time, and you had a TV or radio, you were hearing about it every day. Even now, most people of a certain age would know the meaning and origin of the quote, "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!" It was just one murder, but it was done by a sports hero, and the various errors in the investigation and trial, along with the division amongst Americans over the question "did he or didn't he"--and why do you believe what you believe about that-- raised it's profile tremendously. It is actually kind of hard to believe what a big deal it was, even for those of us who heard about it every day.
Meowmeowmeow31@reddit
It was a huge deal. I was in 1st/2nd grade. My parents actively tried to keep me from hearing about violent things in the news, but I still knew about the OJ Simpson trial because other adults and kids talked about it so much.
DOMSdeluise@reddit
Lol I was in second grade and I remember the teacher wheeling the TV in so she could watch it. I had no idea what was going on.
Hot-Fact-3250@reddit
I would go to my history teachers classroom at lunch and watch it with her
boarhowl@reddit
It was basically the Epstein files of the 90s
mylocker15@reddit
I got sick of it but my mom was obsessed with it and wanted to talk about it all the time. Looking back I think it was a distraction for her.
Also she randomly discovered her cousin was testifying against OJ watching it one day. I thought she was nuts because I had not heard of this cousin but when she pointed him out he looked like people on her dad’s side of the family.
Choice-Bee-3239@reddit
I was in high school when the verdict was announced and we watched it in my math class. People were consumed by the trial. When the verdict was announced some people who were pulling for not guilty acted like their team had just one the Super Bowl, World Series and World Cup at the same time. While some people on the guilty side were crying and behaving like this was the greatest tragedy ever.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Well said.
CFBCoachGuy@reddit
There’s an amazing documentary called June 17th, 1994 that collages all the sports stories of the day and how quickly the White Bronco chase overshadows everything. The trial just continued that attention
jph200@reddit
I was younger (around 14 years old) and I remember watching the verdict IN SCHOOL. There was then debate about whether or not the jury got it right. And then for the longest time, there were references to the trial and moments like "if the glove does not fit, you must acquit."
SirTwitchALot@reddit
When they announced the verdict, my teacher stopped class and put it on so we could watch
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Same
eugenesbluegenes@reddit
Would half the population have tuned in were it not massive?
Help1Ted@reddit
To say it was just huge would be an understatement. It changed the way we watch TV forever.
Open-Neighborhood459@reddit
Exactly
luckystrike_bh@reddit
One thing you have to understand also is that televised car chases were big audience draws. It started with that and there were issues with black Americans getting convicted of crimes at higher rates. The defense lawyer was flamboyant, also, and tried the case in the court of public opinion.
Super_Selection1522@reddit
The oj jokes were massive too.heard them everywhere you went.
akunis@reddit
It was so big that the nun teaching our 5th grade class took us to the cafeteria to watch the verdict on a big screen TV with the other sisters.
jrice138@reddit
I was only 9 and I definitely remember it. Of course I didn’t fully understand it but it was big enough that a 9 year old understood that it was a really big deal.
It also set the precedent that murder is legal in California.
NoLongerATeacher@reddit
I was teaching when the verdict was announced. I had watched quite a bit of the trial on tv over the summer. I remember carrying my Walkman with me when I brought my students to the cafeteria, and the verdict was announced as soon as I dropped them off.
I was standing kind of stunned in the hallway when my TA came up and said “Now they can find the real killer!”
🙄
willtag70@reddit
Very big. I was driving in the car and heard on the radio they were about to announce the verdict, pulled over to the side of the road, and was in total dumbfounded disbelief. Reverberations lasted a long time, even still.
Impulse2915@reddit
That and the Monica Lewinsky scandal were the two biggest national controversies of my childhood.
Penguin_Life_Now@reddit
Lots of people watched it in the background, it was on the TV but people generally were not glued to the screens all day. Either that of people watched the updates in much the way they would watch the evening news, watching the trial updates for 30 minutes or so each day.
DivaJanelle@reddit
All the traditional networks aired the trial. NBC, CBS, ABC. It started the end of daytime soaps. You literally could not get away from it.
gordonf23@reddit
It was %&$%! HUGE. It was everywhere. People were obsessed with it. People watched it and tracked the details like it was their full-time mob. It was a major, major topic of conversation. I remember when the verdict came in, I was at the mall, literal strangers were going up to each other and talking about it.
DragonflyOnFire@reddit
I agree with most of the other comments here. It highlighted racial tensions, and clearly demonstrated the flaws in our criminal justice system.
Choice-Marsupial-127@reddit
It was huge news that captured everybody’s interest and was covered endlessly. Keep in mind this was before we had cell phones to distract us from everything.
My dad was on a fishing trip in remote Canada during the car chase, and still saw caught it live because he happened to run into town for supplies while it was happening and the shop owner had it on.
Unhappy_Performer538@reddit
I was 5 and even I knew about it
DefendTheStar88x@reddit
They left a NBA playoff game to broadcast the slow speed chase, I was pissed.
InvestigatorJaded261@reddit
I had to work pretty hard to ignore it successfully.
Oldpuzzlehead@reddit
We stopped 7th grade math class to listen to the verdict. And then the teacher said to turn off the radio and we went back to math.
Mental_Freedom_1648@reddit
The trial aired every day, and a lot of people watched daily. Lots of debates about it. I was a kid, and the teacher stopped class and took us to the library to watch the verdict. Of course it was more that she wanted to see the verdict, but everyone was invested in it.
tralfazisastro@reddit
Massive
CountryMaleficent439@reddit
I got so tired of hearing about it...
johnnyblaze-DHB@reddit
It was my freshman year in college and class was paused by the professor while the verdict was read.
Active_Two_6741@reddit
That trial best soap opera ever
Maleficent-Hawk-318@reddit
We watched the verdict live in school. I was in like 5th or 6th grade, I believe. So I think that was a pretty big deal, lol.
My friends and I didn't really talk about it much because we were kids and all, but I remember my parents and their friends talking about it a lot.
iowanaquarist@reddit
There still are debates, but it's widely considered the jury got it wrong, and the jury was the wrong group to try the new field of DNA evidence on.
The jury was under educated, and not representative of the education or race of the area.
sneezhousing@reddit
I mean we talked about it at work, school amongst friends for weeks and even years. However time didn't stop. It was just part of what was going on like the weather or an election
Dragosal@reddit
I was 7 and I knew about it. I didn't understand what was happening I just knew oj was on trial for something