CNN presented some controversial coverage of the death of former NFL player OJ Simpson, on multiple occasions struggling to convey why people were happy he was acquitted in the double murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.
Correspondent Stephanie Elam was first out of the blocks with her analysis Thursday afternoon.
Elam, a climate change analyst for the network, seemed to imply people were thrilled to see that OJ, as a black celebrity, could get away with murder.
“It’s also just worth noting how much was impacted by this trial, Jake, as so many things happened. We saw policing changing here in the city,” she began.
“And it’s also worth noting because of that unrest, that racial unrest in the 90s, that is why so many people who may not have been invested in OJ Simpson were just happy to see that someone who was rich and famous and black, could get away with …” Elam continued, stumbling for a moment, “… what other people did in the system as well too.”
JUST IN—CNN's Stephanie Elam reporting on OJ Simpson's death accidentally said the quiet part out loud:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 11, 2024
"So many people were just happy to see that someone who is rich and famous, and black, could get away with… er … what other people did in the system as well, too." pic.twitter.com/7j4zPCUlo5
RELATED: Marc Lamont Hill: OJ Simpson Acquittal Was Necessary Response To Racist System
CNN Analyst – OJ Simpson Helped Right The Wrongs Of Slavery By Killing White People
With Friday, came a new day. A fresh start for CNN in their coverage of OJ Simpson. But it didn’t get much better. In fact, commentator Ashley Allison made things worse with her analysis.
Allison asserts that while OJ was clearly not a social justice warrior, he did represent the black community. Why? Because his victims were white.
“I cheered, I was happy. I don’t think I had a concept of like who was guilty and who was not,” she said noting she was only in the 8th grade at the time OJ got off.
“It was so racially charged because of what had happened just before with Rodney King, but also just how black Americans feel about policing.”
“It’s not like O.J. Simpson was the leader of the civil rights movement in his era. You know, he wasn’t a social justice leader,” Allison explains.
“But he represented something for the black community in that moment in that trial, particularly because there were two white people who had been killed,” she states. “And the history around how black people had been persecuted during slavery. There were just so many layers.”
WTF: CNN Contributor suggests black people identified with OJ because he k*lled white people.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) April 12, 2024
“[OJ] represented something for the black community in that moment, in that trial, particularly because there were two white people who had been k*lled.”
These remarks are insane.… pic.twitter.com/zJHNDJ0I7t
Interesting Analysis
OJ Simpson, 76, died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada Thursday after battling prostate cancer. CNN failed miserably in trying to convey why his acquittal for the violent murder of his wife and her friend was celebrated by some.
Or maybe they succeeded. There certainly was a large contingent of people who were happy to see him ‘get away with … whatever’.
And an equally large contingent who wanted him to get away with it because it would be a victory over the police, victims be damned because they were white.
Marc Lamont Hill, a former CNN contributor fired for his past extreme comments, also raised eyebrows with his take on the OJ Simpson case.
“O.J. Simpson was an abusive liar who abandoned his community long before he killed two people in cold blood. His acquittal for murder was the correct and necessary result of a racist criminal legal system,” he wrote on X.
“But he’s still a monster, not a martyr.”
Allison and Elam seem to disagree.
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