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As I mentioned the other week, my girlfriend and I recently watched the miniseries American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson. On Friday night we sat down to watch episode 7, and found it so absorbing that we wound up staying up til 4 a.m. to finish it.
I was particularly intrigued by how the series presents one of Simpson's defense attorneys, the (in)famous Johnnie Cochran. The portrayal is nuanced: the series doesn't shy away from acknowledging his philandering and accusations of domestic abuse, nor depicting the various underhanded techniques he employed in trying to secure an acquittal for Simpson (redecorating Simpson's house to mislead the jury into thinking Simpson is a pillar of the black community; during cross-examination, speculating on the basis of nothing at all that Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman may have been murdered by cartel members); but also depicts him as a tireless advocate for black civil rights, who takes on OJ's case specifically to call attention to police racism and misconduct within the LAPD and within American society more broadly. It doesn't hurt that Courtney B. Vance gives probably the best performance in the show, effortlessly capturing Cochran's black-preacher charm and flair for the theatrical.
All the same, I couldn't help but think this portrayal was sort of - white-washed? From what I've read of the real Cochran, he strikes me as every negative stereotype about cynical, dishonest lawyers rolled into one, who took on OJ's case first and foremost to enrich himself (both directly in his fees from OJ, and indirectly in the trial's publicity making him into a household name) and secondly owing to what we now euphemistically call "in-group preference" i.e. racism. I don't think (as the show seems to imply) that the real Johnnie Cochran thinks that black men who have actually commited heinous crimes ought to be punished, but that the American justice system is so riddled with racism and white supremacy that it is impossible for us to have any real confidence that the evidence mounted in their prosecution was not compromised, planted or coerced. That, at least, is a defensible position, and arguably more defensible in 1995 than today. But I don't think that's what the real Johnnie Cochran thinks, or thought at the time: I think he thinks that OJ is black, therefore he should not be sent to prison (certainly not for murdering two white people; maybe he'd think otherwise if OJ had murdered someone close to Cochran) and any methods are justified in trying to accomplish that goal, no matter how dishonest or underhanded. I think the show was essentially sanewashing the real Cochran .
Am I being unfair to Cochran? People who know more about the real man than I do, do you think that's a reasonably accurate characterisation of his worldview?
Did you watch much of the actual trial? It was broadcast live. It was a daily topic of conversation amoungst my friends at the time.
How about that Mr. Fung?
I was born too late, but I'm rather curious now.
It was a cultural moment, sadly. The late night shows had parady songs and dancing Judge Itos.
The low speed Bronco pursuit overshadowed a David Hasselhoff pay per view concert live from Trump's Castle.
Somewhere there's a video clip of Rosa Lopez saying, 'El Bronco blanco.'
In a better alternative timeline Ron and Nicole are still alive, OJ is remembered for football and acting, and David Hasselhoff stardom was even greater.
I heard a young person describe the Depp–Heard trial as the Simpson Trial of their generation and, no. Not even close. Those who weren't around for it don't understand how big OJ was, because it's unlikely anything will again be as big for at least another few decades. I got about 50 channels at the time and the trial was always on 3 or 4 of the channels, and sometimes it was on most of the channels. Minor figures like Kato and Rosa Lopez were household names. I found a book about the murders in a garbage can within a month of them, seemingly not enough time for a book to be written let alone published, read, and discarded.
The only other crime in American history that generated a comparable level of interest was the Lindbergh kidnapping, and that was in the 30s. I think that after a media circus to that degree the media and public as a whole take a step back,.and it can only happen again once anyone old enough to have any real memory of such an event is too old to have had any involvement with the coverage. Maybe once everyone who covered the OJ trial is retired and the zoomers are running the media machine, we'll get a case of similar interest, but I think this is the kind of thing that can only happen once every 50 years or so.
Agree with this.
I know some people who point to the OJ chase or trial as one of their first concrete memories.
Nothing since comes anywhere close, not even any of the BLM adjacent trials.
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