Here’s a trip down bizarre memory lane: Remember the book O.J. Simpson wrote, If I Did It, about how he might have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman if he were the murderer, which he says he definitely wasn’t?
Back in 2006, Simpson did a brief publicity tour for the book, including an interview with Fox. Following protests from the Brown and Goldman families and a public backlash, however, the book was scrapped, along with the accompanying promotional interview.
Until now, that is. Fox has announced that it will be airing the controversial “no holds barred” interview Sunday night to compete with the premiere of another slice of pop culture that America has largely forgotten about: ABC’s American Idol.
But why air the interview now?
Apparently, this time the Brown and Goldman families have given their approval. In a shrewd financial move, the Goldman family acquired the rights to Simpson’s If I Did It in 2007, meaning that Simpson “will not profit in any way” from the interview being aired, Vulture notes.
Simpson has also surged into the public consciousness in a major way in the last two years. His trial was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a televised drama on FX that starred Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown. He was also the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary directed by Ezra Edelman, O.J.: Made in America.
Simpson was released from a Nevada prison late last year after serving nine years for a botched burglary in a Las Vegas hotel.
The interview, which Simpson, in a promo video, promises sets the record straight about a story “the whole world got wrong,” will be hosted by Soledad O’Brien and air on Fox on March 11 at 8 p.m. EST.