Public uproar kills O.J. book, TV interview

NEW YORK — O.J. Simpson's book and TV special were canceled Monday, an astonishing end to an imaginary confession that had sickened the public.

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns both Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

"If I Did It," in which Simpson was to have described how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend, had been scheduled to air as a two-part interview Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 on Fox. The book was to have been released Nov. 30.

HarperCollins spokeswoman Erin Crum said some copies had been shipped to stores but would be recalled, and all copies would be destroyed.

During an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live," Ron Goldman's father, Fred, expressed appreciation to people who voiced their opposition to the book and interview.

"We want to say thank you, thank you for everyone in this country who raised their voice and stood up for the right thing," Goldman said.

Simpson said in a telephone interview late Monday he could not comment on the situation "until I know legally where I stand."

He added, "I would like nothing better than to straighten out some things that have been mischaracterized. But I think I'm legally muzzled at this point."

Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said he did not know whether the deal between Simpson and News Corp. was contingent on a TV interview being shown or a book arriving in stores, nor did he know if Simpson had been paid in advance in what was reported to be a $3.5 million deal.

Simpson, though acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial, lost a 1997 civil suit to the families of his ex-wife and Goldman and still owes them most of a $33.5 million judgment.

Any hopes that Fox had of commercial reward from the special — scheduled to run at the end of the November ratings sweeps — were quickly overwhelmed by near universal revulsion to last week's announcement. Criticism came from those who knew Goldman and Brown, from booksellers and advertisers, even from Fox News Channel personality Bill O'Reilly.

One News Corp. official, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, said that scheduling the program represented "a severe underestimating of the American public" by Fox television executives Peter Liguori and Peter Chernin.

Fox television officials declined to comment.

A dozen Fox network affiliates had already said they would not air the special, and numerous stores had either declined to sell the book or had promised to donate any profits to charity.

"Once affiliates start canceling, it's like unraveling a thread. It just keeps going," an official at another network said Monday.

"We are very pleased with this outcome," said a statement by Pam Pearson, vice president and general manager of Q13FOX in Seattle.

Richard Doutre Jones, vice president of Fox affiliate XETV in San Diego, said no advertisers were clamoring to be part of the Simpson show. "Can you imagine any advertiser that would want to be associated with something like this?" he said. "I mean, I don't think a porno site would want to get involved."

The cancellation was a stunning setback for ReganBooks — an imprint of HarperCollins — and publisher Judith Regan, who had labeled the book and interview Simpson's "confession." She insisted that she had done it not for money but as a victim of domestic violence eager to face down a man she believed got away with murder.

Regan declined to comment Monday.

Numerous books have been withdrawn over the years because of possible plagiarism, most recently Kaavya Viswanathan's "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," but removal simply for objectionable content is exceptionally rare. In the early 1990s, Simon & Schuster canceled Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho," a graphic account of a serial killer. The novel was released by Random House and later made into a feature film.

Orders for "If I Did It" had been strong but not sensational. It cracked the top 20 of Amazon.com last weekend, but by Monday afternoon, at the time its cancellation was announced, the book had fallen to No. 51.

The Simpson interview also was a low for Fox, which has long tested viewers with risky reality programming dating to "When Animals Attack" in 1996. It has been a particularly tough season for the network, which has seen none of its new shows catch on and is waiting for the January debuts of "American Idol" and "24."

The closest precedent for such an about-face came when CBS yanked a miniseries about Ronald Reagan from its schedule in 2003 when complaints were raised about its accuracy. It was seen on CBS' sister premium-cable channel, Showtime, instead.

O'Reilly had urged a boycott of any company that advertised on the special.

Media critic Howard Kurtz opened a discussion of "If I Did It" on his CNN show Sunday with the question: "Is this just pathetic, or just utterly sickening?"

One Fox affiliate station manager had said he wasn't going to air the special because he was concerned that, whether or not Simpson was guilty, he'd still be profiting from murders.

"I have my own moral compass, and this was easy," said Bill Lamb, general manager of WDRB in Louisville.

Compiled from The Associated Press, McClatchy Newspapers and

the Los Angeles Times