CELEBRITY TALES.......AS I REMEMBER THEM: O.J. SIMPSON

The guest appearance was scheduled for a couple of days in mid summer, 2007, just about a month or two before a group of men led by O.J. Simpson entered a hotel room in Las Vegas and stole sports memorabilia at gunpoint. A crime for which he sits in a prison cell to this day. But, what did we know? This was, also, more than a dozen years after he had gotten away with murder, which was the reason for his guest shot in the first place. I was working for MN1, Market News First, an experimental IPTV station that reported on small cap stocks. We followed penny stocks, bringing news of the companies and interviews with key players to our viewers, we assumed, world wide by way of the internet. The concept and funding came from a 33 year old high school dropout named Josh who had conned his way into a job as a stockbroker, did it very well and was, at the time, worth millions. He was an irresponsible kid who once led police on a high speed chase in his Lamborghini, laughing all the way, just because he could. Unbeknownst to those of us who worked there, the whole project was just a front for a “pump and dump” scam. I wasn't hired for any particular stock market prowess......I have none. I had been a professional broadcaster for more than 40 years and would lend a sense of credibility to the on-air product. They figured they could teach me about penny stocks and I needed a job. The last I heard, Josh had been extradited from the Turks and Caicos islands and was doing time in a federal prison somewhere in Texas for stock fraud. It was Josh who had the idea to bring O.J. Simpson in to get some healthy publicity for MN1. This was supposed to be the biggest, most real appearance of the decade. I think it made the entertainment section of the Dallas Morning News. There was one major stipulation O.J. had to agree to, however. He had to take unscreened and unedited questions from the viewers, no matter how raw or probing, after his so called explanation. I'm not quite sure why he agreed but he did. At that point he was old news and, like I said, Josh was worth millions. I did a morning news block that always ended with a commentary. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes they were serious and sometimes they were opinionated – MN1 gave me carte blanche. I was asked to do a commentary as an opening to the session with O.J. I tried to remain as objective as I could and spent the 3 minutes or so, talking about the fairness of the platform we were providing and how great MN1 was for doing this and blah, blah, blah. It added an air of professionalism and made it look like we had an inkling about what we were doing, which we didn't. Thank goodness for my improv experience. I did, however, notice, while it was running, that O.J. Told everyone to shut up so he could hear the opening, which, apparently, met with his approval. O.J. then went into the booth and sat in front of the camera, delivering some lame excuse and listening to, what seemed to be a visiting convention of village idiots, calling in with nothing constructive to say, kind of like the Rush Limbaugh show. It was like watching some pretty good satire so there was a level of entertainment value that managed to creep in After the show, O.J. thanked me for the intro and we chatted about golf. “Too bad I didn't bring my sticks,” he said, adding, “We could go play 18. I call you next time I'm in town.” Things went from “pretty nifty” to “really cool” when someone suggested that we all go for a cocktail and a cigar at a very exclusive cigar bar in North Dallas. Again – Josh - worth millions. O.J. had been sitting and held his hands out for me to help him up because his knees were so bad. I gave him the leverage he needed to rise and watched him slowly waddle towards the door as a thought briefly raced through my mind - “How the hell could he have escaped after stabbing people to death when he can't even get up off a couch?” By the time we got to the cigar bar, our party had grown to about 20 but, O.J. and I had hit it off. We were only 13 days apart in age so we got all of each others references and had similar interests. He was very personable. A nice guy. “He's pretty bright,” I thought, “I liked him.” We smoked a cigar, had a little 12 year old scotch and some good conversation as he sat on another couch and I squatted down so we could hear each other over the noise. When it came time to get up, I couldn't. I looked at O.J. and said, “You're not gonna believe this,” as I held out my hands so he could help ME get up. My knees were as bad as his. It wasn't long after that night that O.J. Simpson entered that hotel room in Vegas. As I watched him being arrested, I had two fleeting thoughts, “OK, maybe not so bright!” and “I guess the golf game is off.”