Featuring footage from the pulled 2006 sitdown with Judith Regan, timed to the notorious “If I Did It” book, the special will air against ABC’s ‘American Idol’ launch.
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by Michael O’Connell, The Hollywood Reporter March 1 2018
Twelve years later, O.J. Simpson’s bizarre interview with Judith Regan will finally see the light of day — on the same network that pulled it.
Fox is set to premiere O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession on Sunday, March 11, at 8 o’clock. The special focuses on the axed interview in which Simpson was set to plug his book If I Did It. The tome details the night of ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman’s murders. Simpson was acquitted of those murders in “The Trial of the Century,” but the book poses that he had, in fact, done it. For those keeping track of time slots, the special is going head-to-head with ABC’s relaunch of former Fox flagship American Idol.
The interview was originally set to air on Fox in 2006, but Big Fox faced huge criticism from the families of Brown and Goldman — prompting an apology from boss Rupert Murdoch. This time, however, there’ll be no such criticism. Sources say that both families have approved of its release. (The Goldmans were actually awarded the rights to If I Did It after a civil suite.) Simpson, now free from a lengthy prison sentence, will in no way profit.
A release from Fox describes the interview as “no-holds-barred” and says that Simpson, “in his own words, offers a detailed – and disturbing – description of what might have happened on that fateful night of June 12, 1994.” The special will be hosted Soledad O’Brien, who’ll also be joined by a panel of analysts to discuss the interview and provide context. Terence Wrong is the executive producer.
Interest in Simpson seems evergreen. Recent documentary O.J.: Made in America won an Oscar, and FX miniseries The People vs. O.J. Simpson was one of the biggest hits of 2016. A tease from the unearthed interview, posted below, features Simpson looking straight into the lens and preparing to offer his eerie account.
