O.J. Simpson says he plans to use his new Twitter account to “set the record straight,” as well as to talk sports, fantasy football and even some politics.
“You know, for years people have been able to say whatever they want to say about me with no accountability. But now I get to challenge a lot of that B.S. and set the record straight,” the former football star says in a new video while standing in front of a swimming pool.
“More importantly, I’ll be able to talk about everything, especially sports and fantasy football, and even politics,” he adds in the video, posted Saturday night. “But for now let me just say, to my fellow fathers out there: happy Father’s Day.”
Simpson, 71, launched his new Twitter account late Friday night – some 20 months after he was released from a nine-year stay at a state prison in Nevada – with a video saying he’s “got a little getting even to do.” He added, “Coming soon to Twitter, you’ll get to read all my thoughts and opinions on just about everything.”
Since then the NFL Hall of Famer has accumulated more than 465,000 followers.
The account’s profile photo is a badly lit image of Simpson in a sport coat and open-collared shirt. The banner photo is an old image of what appears to be Simpson in his Buffalo Bills uniform. Simpson currently follows only eight accounts, including the NFL, the Buffalo Bills, USC football and the Heisman Trophy.
The account, with its location tagged as Las Vegas, is authentic, confirmed Simpson’s attorney, Malcolm LaVergne.
“Mr. Simpson is the most positive person I’ve ever met,” LaVergne told CNN. “He’s also very well informed on current events. He will not be negative. Nor will he comment on the LA thing. It will be one of the best accounts on Twitter to follow.”
It’s been 25 years since the double slaying
“The LA thing” refers to the 1994 double slaying for which Simpson was tried and acquitted.
Wednesday marked 25 years since the killings of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. And Monday is the 25th anniversary of the slow-speed chase that captured a nation’s attention as TV viewers watched Simpson flee police in a white Ford Bronco before surrendering on two murder charges.
The subsequent court case was dubbed the Trial of the Century for its swirling themes of celebrity, race, domestic violence and trust in police. After nearly nine months of proceedings, jurors returned a not-guilty verdict in less than four hours in October 1995.
Simpson was later found liable in a civil wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the victims’ families. On the stand, he denied killing Brown Simpson and Goldman.
A decade later Simpson was convicted of a 2007 kidnapping and armed robbery in Las Vegas after he and others went to a hotel and took sports memorabilia at gunpoint. Simpson later said the items belonged to him and he didn’t know his associates were armed.
A judge sentenced him to up to 33 years in prison for the crimes. In 2017 the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners voted to grant Simpson early release, with one member calling him a “low risk to reoffend.” He was freed that October after serving almost nine years. Several associates told CNN at the time that Simpson planned to live with friends in a wealthy Las Vegas suburb and then move to Florida.
Despite his arthritis Simpson has been playing a lot of golf since his release, LaVergne said.
“There are times when I know not to call him because I presume he’s on the links,” he told CNN. “And yes the arthritis is very real but he deals with it. All of that would eventually be covered through tweets.”
In earlier years, Simpson was a star running back for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. With his easy smile and affable personality, he later became an on-air media figure and movie star.
CNN’s Paul Vercammen contributed to this report.