In what is debatably a possible big middle finger to white America, the 2024 BET Awards honored O.J. Simpson Sunday night in the “In Memoriam” section of its program.
Either way, the families of murder victims Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman weren’t too pleased.
BET featured a montage of actors and celebrities who passed away in 2024, including baseball legend Willie Mays, actor Carl Weathers of “Rocky” fame, and prolific character actor Bill Cobbs. Sadly, someone at BET also felt compelled to honor Simpson — apparently, in their eyes, being black trumps being an alleged sociopathic double murderer.
Introducing the tribute as “the black excellence that we, unfortunately, lost this year,” actress Tia Mowry added, “It’s never easy to say goodbye to those who influence us, but we can take a moment to celebrate and acknowledge their contributions to the culture.”
The in memoriam segment of the BET Awards honored OJ Simpson pic.twitter.com/TeDsgqF8wR
— Jennifer Mascia (@JenniferMascia) July 1, 2024
Simpson died in April at the age of 76 after battling cancer, some 30 years after he was charged with the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. With the former NFL player’s death, the so-called “search” for their killer was also laid to rest. Simpson managed to avoid conviction thanks in large part to a high-powered dream team of attorneys, racial bias by the jury, and a largely incompetent prosecutorial team.
Still, he had a history of domestic violence against Brown and was a felon who was convicted of 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping, and served nine years in a Nevada prison.
Fred Goldman, father to Ron, told TMZ: “I think they shouldn’t include anyone of that caliber – a wife beater, murderer … can’t imagine why they would include someone like that.”
Nicole’s sister Tanya went further, calling for an apology to domestic violence victims and the head of whoever signed off on including O.J. Simpson.
“It’s inappropriate to give an abuser and murderer recognition,” she said. “Whoever thought of doing that owes every domestic violence victim an apology… and that’s including our family. And, they should be fired.”
Social media users were of a similar mind… here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
A tacit admission that White lives don’t matter to BET organizers.
— Snowball (@LeftAnimalFarm) July 2, 2024
Disgusting, but considering the current political, cultural and racial climate; I’m not surprised by this!!
— Joann Hund (@Leoqueen1953) July 2, 2024
Well the victims were white so why wouldn’t they? That’s standard protocol isn’t it?
— Agent86
(@toddboese) July 2, 2024
@BET @BETAwards putting oj Simpson in the memorial is absolutely disgusting
— Amber Ranalli (@amberexplains) July 1, 2024
No fucking way they added OJ SIMPSON in the tribute
— Jamila (@_iamjamila) July 1, 2024
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Author: Tom Tillison
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