O'Reilly promises to hurt sponsors of "O.J. garbage"

NEW YORK — Fox News firebrand Bill O'Reilly threatened Friday to whack Rupert Murdoch in the wallet for promoting O.J. Simpson's book.

Vowing to boycott any company that advertises on Fox's two-part special hyping Simpson's "If I Did It," O'Reilly said: "If every American walked away from the O.J. garbage, it wouldn't happen.

"I'm not going to watch the Simpson show or even look at the book. If any company sponsors the TV program, I will not buy anything that company sells — ever."

Geraldo Rivera, another Fox News journalist, called the book "appalling."

"I will bash this project every minute I have the opportunity to bash this project," Rivera said.

In the book, Simpson speculates about how he would have killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in 1995 but later was held liable for both deaths in a civil suit and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the victims' families, an amount that remains unpaid. Simpson's book is being published Nov. 30 by ReganBooks, which is named after its head, Judith Regan, and is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp., which also owns Fox broadcasting.

As of Friday night, presales for the book had pushed it to No. 16 on Amazon.com.

The media titan was unavailable for comment Friday.

"I can't reach him today," said Murdoch's spokesman, Howard Rubenstein.

A HarperCollins insider pointed out that Murdoch should have known what kind of book Regan was promoting.

"I know that HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman had to sign off on the O.J. book and I would think that she would have had to run it by Rupert, considering what a ... storm it would create," the insider said. "Rupert's bottom line is making money."

But advertisers were running away in droves from the TV tie-in Regan is scheduled to host Nov. 27 and 29 on Fox Broadcasting. And some Fox affiliates told the network they wouldn't carry the show.

Bob Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and pop-culture expert, said he's not sure whether the controversy wasn't manufactured to produce ratings for Fox.

"My theory has always been that Fox News and Fox Broadcasting are the perfect synergy," he said. "One produces this outrageous programming that pundits on the other channel can complain about."

In an eight-page statement that described being punched in the face by a former lover, Regan defended her decision to publish the O.J. book and painted herself as a defender of battered women.

Regan insisted her plan behind Simpson's supposedly hypothetical homicide book was to extract from him a confession to murdering his ex-wife and Goldman.

Regan also suggests she is unfamiliar with the reported $3.5 million her company paid for the book, saying the deal was made with a "third party" and the money was supposed to go to Simpson's children.

"It's just amazing that she's trying to spin this as her revenge against her own abusers," the HarperCollins insider said.

Material from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.