Why do you think the OJ Simpson Case got so much publicity?

A few days ago I saw someone ask someone else this same question on some show and the person asked agreed with your first sentence. So do I. It would not get the same amount of attention and coverage today. The person asked said it truly was the court-trial of the 20th century and unlikely to ever be surpassed.

I'll let you know when I come-up with a new signature, .

I guess people had nothing better to occupy their minds with in an age before widespread use of the internet and cell phones.

Because he was a huge celebrity and beloved person. He was one of the biggest football players of all time, not to mention a famous actor. He was considered one of the nicest and kindest people on the face of the Earth and had legions of fans and followers. It would be like Michael Jordan murdering people, the public would go nuts over it. If you were young when all of this was going on, than trust me, you don't realize how huge he was.


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dies ist meine unterschrift

Exactly, well said (typed actually)!

I'll let you know when I come-up with a new signature, .

Since you were young at the time, you might not have been aware of just how famous this man was. He was a former superstar athlete turned actor/announcer/product endorser that was absolutely LOVED by just about anybody and everybody. He had such a winning personality, and was a darling of the talk show circuit for this very reason.

Like most people, I was utterly stunned when this happened and they showed him being handcuffed by the police to be questioned. The world was just stunned. Once the avalanche of evidence became public, well, anyone with a functioning mind figured out that he actually murdered those two.

I was a kid when this happened (8,to be exact), and I knew OJ mainly from The Naked Gun films. I was obviously too young to ever see him play, but thanks to my dad, I had a general understanding as to the level of his superstardom.

At any rate, I loved him as Nordberg and I was floored when I saw the chase, and the following trial. I kept thinking there is no way this beloved man could have done this. This was my reaction as an eight-year-old child, so I can only imagine what it was like for folks in America who were there to witness OJ from the beginning.

To understand why this received so much attention, try comparing it to a beloved modern-day athlete/actor. If Peyton Manning was accused of murdering his wife, then leading the police on a merry chase, that would grab attention.

Another major factor that drew so much attention were the bizarre events/elements/characters surrounding the case. I can easily compare that aspect alone to the Casey Anthony case, which I have covered as a journalist here in Orlando.

It's these sensational details that fuel the media and feed the public--it practically begs for your attention. Knowing the timeline of events, the crazy characters behind it all, and the Shakespearean "rise and fall" tale of a tragic hero is something that would peak anyone's interest--regardless of the time period it is set in. It's almost so interesting and crazy, it reads like fiction.

I agree with you. I've commented that if Charlie Manson committed his crimes in 2016 to a group of locally popular but nationally a fairly unknown group of people it'd certainly get attention, especially because of Sharon Tate's late pregnancy but not even close to being considered the crime of the 20th century as it has been since 1969. Mass shootings, terrorist attacks and serial killers have sadly become so commonplace that, other than locally, get short lived attention because usually within weeks or a month, it's off to the next event. Here in the past 2 weeks we've had the Berlin truck attack, the Turkish assassination, the young man's kidnapping and torture, and now the airport shootings.

A shooting/stabbing murder of 5 and 2 by a group of wacked out druggies probably wouldn't stay on the top trending list for more than a week outside of LA, especially, and I hate to say it but it's true, white on white.

Good point, and good posts by all. We now live in a world of snapchats and tweets. Most important story ever now...gone and forgotten in a moment.

If you go back to that time though, had Judge Ito did what Hiroshi Fujisaki did in the civil trial - ban all video and still cameras, put gag orders on attorneys, and sped things along with the same businiess-like efficiency - the trial would have gained nowhere near as much publicity as it did. It still would have been big, and Simpson probably still would have been aquitted, but it would have been nothing like what it became.