Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch on Monday cancelled "ill-considered" plans for a book and interview by OJ Simpson and apologised to relatives of the American football star's alleged murder victims.
LOS ANGELES: Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch on Monday cancelled "ill-considered" plans for a book and interview by OJ Simpson and apologised to relatives of the American football star's alleged murder victims.
In a dramatic climbdown that followed a wave of revulsion over the proposed Simpson media blitz, Australian-born magnate Murdoch said News Corp was pulling the plug on a book and two-part television interview.
"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," Murdoch said.
"We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson."
Fox Broadcasting said last week Simpson would conduct a two-part interview entitled If I Did It, Here's How It Happened, chronicling how he would have murdered his ex-wife and her friend in 1994 -- if he were the killer.
Simpson, who always has vehemently denied the killings, was acquitted of the brutal slayings after a racially charged trial in 1995, a verdict that was greeted with widespread outrage across America.
The former sports star was subsequently found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil suit and was ordered to pay damages to the victims' families totalling $33.5 million.
According to one report, Simpson was due to receive $3.5 million for a book titled If I Did It that was due to be published by ReganBooks, an imprint of News Corp's HarperCollins publishing division on November 30.
A statement from the publishers promised Simpson's book would deliver "a bone-chilling account of the night of the murders."
But news of the Simpson media blitz sparked howls of condemnation, with the families of victims leading a chorus of disgust.
Fred Goldman, the father of Ron Goldman, described the book as "sick" and "morally despicable", voicing astonishment that Simpson had found a publisher and a television network willing to give him air-time.
The Goldman family welcomed News Corps decision to yank the book and television interview in a statement Monday, but said they were still seeking an explanation over how the project had been conceived.
"The Goldmans acknowledge that while News Corp has now accepted responsibility for its deplorable decisions made in the past, it does not undo the damage to the families of the victims," the family said.
"The Goldmans look forward to continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding this book deal and holding those persons accountable who may have acted in concert with Simpson to defraud the Goldmans."
The Simpson project also brought blanket criticism across the media, not least from several prominent Fox television journalists and affiliates.
Bill O'Reilly, the host of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, said Fox's decision to air the program was "simply indefensible and a low point in American culture" while a Fox anchor in Los Angeles decried it as "disgusting".
O'Reilly later vowed to boycott the book, the interview and any companies that paid for advertising slots during the program.
"I'm not going to watch the Simpson show or even look at the book," he said. "If any company sponsors the TV program, I will not buy anything that company sells -- ever."
Another Fox personality, Geraldo Rivera, echoed O'Reilly's criticism. "I will bash this project every minute I have the opportunity to bash this project," Rivera said.
Reports said Saturday that Pappas Telecasting Companies, which owns Fox affiliate television stations in Nebraska, Iowa and California, had informed Fox on Friday their stations would not broadcast the interview.
Another telecaster, Lin Broadcasting, which owns five Fox affiliates, pledged not to show the program, the New York Daily News reported.
Bookstores across the US pledged not to stock Simpson's book while others pledged to give the profits to domestic violence campaigners.
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