If I Did It
Encyclopedia
If I Did It is a book by O. J. Simpson
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...

, in which he puts forth a hypothetical description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson
Nicole Brown Simpson
Nicole Brown Simpson was a former wife of professional football player O. J. Simpson.- Relationship with O. J. Simpson :...

 and Ronald Goldman
Ronald Goldman
Ronald Lyle "Ron" Goldman was an American waiter and an aspiring model. He was murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson, former wife of O. J. Simpson, an actor and retired American football player. The subsequent criminal investigation and trial against O. J...

. Simpson was tried and acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial (People v. Simpson
O. J. Simpson murder case
The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...

) but later found financially liable in a civil trial. Although the original release of the book was canceled shortly after it was announced in November 2006, 400,000 physical copies of the original book were printed, and by June 2007, copies of the book had leaked online.

The book was originally due to be published by Regan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

, which was headed by editor and publisher Judith Regan
Judith Regan
Judith Regan is an American editor, producer, book publisher and television and radio talk show host. She is the mother of a son and a daughter and lives in New York City and Los Angeles.-Early life:...

. It was originally planned that the book would be promoted via a television special featuring an interview with Simpson on Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

. Fox and HarperCollins are both owned by the News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...

. This special had the longer title, O. J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened. Like the original release of the book, the special was canceled.

In August 2007, a Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family partially to satisfy the civil judgment. The title of the book was changed to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, and published by Beaufort Books. Comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, the book's ghostwriter
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...

 Pablo Fenjves
Pablo Fenjves
Pablo F. Fenjves is a screenwriter and ghostwriter based in Los Angeles, California best known for ghostwriting O.J. Simpson's account of the O.J. Simpson murder case....

, and journalist Dominick Dunne
Dominick Dunne
Dominick John Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist, whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways in which high society interacts with the judicial system...

. The new cover design printed the word "If" greatly reduced in size compared with the other words, and placed it inside the "I"; a person glancing at the cover only briefly may have the impression that it is entitled I Did It. In this new form, the book was published in September 2007.

First release cancelled

The book was unofficially announced in The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer is an American supermarket tabloid now published by American Media Inc . Founded in 1926, the tabloid has gone through a variety of changes over the years....

in late October 2006 and immediately denied by Simpson's lawyer.

The book was announced in mid-November 2006 for release on November 30, 2006, but intense public criticism led to the cancellation of the book's publication and a related television interview, both from divisions of News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...

 (HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

/ReganBooks
ReganBooks
ReganBooks was an American bestselling imprint or division of HarperCollins book publishing house , headed by editor and publisher Judith Regan, started in 1994 and ended in late 2006. During its existence, Regan was called, by LA Weekly, "the world's most successful publisher". The division...

 and Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

, respectively). According to a Newsweek story, all 400,000 printed copies were recalled for 'pulping', except for one, locked away in a vault at News Corp. One copy did show up on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

 on January 15, 2007, with a starting bid of $1500, and sold for over $65,000 fueling speculation about whether News Corp. was able to destroy all printed copies. James Wolcott
James Wolcott
James Wolcott is an American journalist, known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and contributes to The New Yorker. He also writes a blog....

 of Vanity Fair obtained a "pristine hardcover" copy of the book for a review published in January 2007.

Pre-publication controversy

If I Did It ignited a storm of pre-publication controversy, largely due to the perception that Simpson was trying to profit from the two deaths for which he had been found liable.

"This is not about being heard. This is about trying to cash in, in a pathetic way, on some notoriety," said Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

. "That a person keeps wanting to bring this up seems almost nutty to me."

Denise Brown, sister of murder victim Nicole Brown Simpson, said, "We hope [publisher] Ms. Regan takes full accountability for promoting the wrongdoing of criminals and leveraging this forum and the actions of Simpson to commercialize abuse."

She went on to say that Simpson's "two children will be exposed to [his] inexplicable behavior and we will provide them with our love and support during this time. It's unfortunate that [O.J.] Simpson has decided to awaken a nightmare that we have painfully endured and worked so hard to move beyond."

Patricia Schroeder
Patricia Schroeder
Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder , American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Colorado, serving from 1973 to 1997. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado.- Early years :...

, president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly...

, described the developments as sickening:
"But I think it's going to stir an awful lot of debate and make the culture take a real look at itself, and that may not be unhealthy."


The day after the announcement, an online boycott encouraging Americans to ignore the book commenced at OJbookBoycott.com
and similar boycotts began in Australia and Europe.
Within four days of the book's announcement, over 58,394 people had signed an online petition developed by Ronald Goldman's family, DontPayOJ.com, declaring their opposition to the book.
The website directed boycotters to send protests to HarperCollins, ReganBooks, Fox television and all major booksellers in the United States.

Bookshops were divided as to stocking this title in their stores. Numerous independent stores, appalled by Simpson's book, said either that they would not sell it or would offer limited copies and give away the proceeds.
Borders Books and Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks , operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain and a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware as well as a children's edutainment chain under Walden Kids...

 said they would donate any profits they made from the book to charities which benefit victims of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

. Borders, Inc. spokesperson Ann Binkley said, "The book will be available for sale at all Borders and Waldenbooks stores because we believe it is the right of customers to decide what they read and what to buy, but we will not discount the title or promote it".

Prior to its cancellation, If I Did It was debated in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 as well, with several stores there saying they would only order it for customers, but not stock it.

In the days following the book's announcement, preorders put it in the top 20 of Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

's bestseller list, though it had fallen to #51 when the book's cancellation was announced.

The proposed book outraged the Goldman family. "It's disgusting. Judith Regan is an opportunist. She's helping a murderer get his voice out there," Goldman's sister Kim Goldman told the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

. According to lawyers for the family of Ron Goldman, the family planned to attempt to garnish any earnings Simpson may get from the book. Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father, was awarded $33.5 million by a jury in 1997 for the wrongful death of Ron Goldman though Simpson never paid this judgment due to California law that prevents pensions from being used to satisfy judgments. Of the book and television interview, Goldman says,
"It is an all-time low for television. To imagine that a major network would put a murderer on TV to have him tell how he would murder the mother of his children and my son is beyond comprehension. It’s morally reprehensible to me... to think you are willing to give somebody airtime about how they would murder two people."


Legal experts theorized that Simpson might be able to avoid paying the Goldmans or Browns any money. "I think it's going to be difficult if [Simpson] arranges to have [book profits] deposited abroad," said lawyer Tom Mesereau
Thomas Mesereau
Thomas Arthur Mesereau, Jr. is an American attorney best known for defending Michael Jackson in his 2005 child molestation trial.-The Robert Blake murder trial:...

, who successfully defended Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 in his child molestation trial in 2005
People v. Jackson
People vs. Jackson was a 2005 trial involving recording artist Michael Jackson. The accuser was a boy, Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged crimes...

. "It's one thing to enforce a judgment in America, and another to enforce it overseas."

Mesereau said Simpson also might have profits "paid into a trust offshore or a corporation in a different name."

Fox Broadcasting Company said it would air a two-part taped interview with Simpson, conducted by Regan. The interview was scheduled to air on November 27 and November 29, 2006, timed to coincide with the publication. The program would not have been a "news" show under the auspices of the Fox News unit; the broadcast network's alternative programming department, headed by Mike Darnell
Mike Darnell
Michael H. Darnell is an American television executive.Darnell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He is currently president of Alternative Entertainment for the Fox Broadcasting Company. He is credited for launching When Animals Attack!, Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire,...

, would have been responsible. The network released this statement on November 15, 2006:
"O.J. Simpson, in his own words, tells for the first time how he would have committed the murders if he were the one responsible for the crimes. In the two-part event, Simpson describes how he would have carried out the murders he has vehemently denied committing for over a decade."


On November 16, 2006, Regan issued a statement claiming that her reason for doing the interview and releasing the book was an attempt to find closure after having been a battered woman herself.
"The men who lied and cheated and beat me – they were all there in the room," she said. "And the people who denied it, they were there, too. And though it might sound a little strange, Nicole and Ron were in my heart. And for them I wanted him to confess his sins, do penance, and to amend his life. Amen."


Screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 Pablo Fenjves
Pablo Fenjves
Pablo F. Fenjves is a screenwriter and ghostwriter based in Los Angeles, California best known for ghostwriting O.J. Simpson's account of the O.J. Simpson murder case....

, a witness at Simpson's 1995 trial, was the ghostwriter
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...

 for Simpson's book. Fenjves has since stated that he believes Simpson is "a murderer".

Fox affiliate reaction

By November 19 or 20, 2006, before the special was cancelled, over a dozen Fox affiliates had either refused to carry it or decided to air it but devote local time to public service announcements. Stations in Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...

, and Johnstown
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...

-Altoona
Altoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...

-State College, Pennsylvania
State College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...

 area were the first to turn down the special on November 17, 2006, along with two other stations in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...

 and Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

.

The largest station group to show refusal to air the special was LIN Television
LIN TV
LIN TV Corporation is an American holding company that operates 31 television stations.-History:LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in 1961. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in radio, television, direct marketing, information and learning, music...

with Fox affiliates in six markets:
  • Mobile, Alabama
    Mobile, Alabama
    Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

  • Albuquerque, New Mexico
    Albuquerque, New Mexico
    Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...

  • Green Bay, Wisconsin
    Green Bay, Wisconsin
    Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

  • Toledo, Ohio
    Toledo, Ohio
    Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

  • Providence, Rhode Island
    Providence, Rhode Island
    Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

  • Norfolk
    Norfolk, Virginia
    Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

     and Virginia Beach, Virginia
    Virginia Beach, Virginia
    Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...



Pappas Telecasting
Pappas Telecasting Companies
Pappas Telecasting Companies was a diversely organized broadcasting company headquartered in Visalia, California, United States. Founded in 1971, it was one of the largest privately held broadcasting companies in the country, with its stations reaching over 15% of all U.S. households and over 32%...

 was second in line, and said they would pre-empt the program on their Fox stations in four markets along with Fox stations in Bismarck
Bismarck, North Dakota
Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...

-Minot, North Dakota
Minot, North Dakota
Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state...

:
  • Fresno, California
    Fresno, California
    Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

  • Omaha, Nebraska
    Omaha, Nebraska
    Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

  • Sioux City, Iowa
    Sioux City, Iowa
    Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....

  • Lincoln
    Lincoln, Nebraska
    The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....

    , Superior
    Superior, Nebraska
    Superior is a city in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,957.Superior bills itself as the "Victorian Capital of Nebraska", and holds an annual Victorian Festival...

     and Grand Island, Nebraska
    Grand Island, Nebraska
    Grand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 48,520 at the 2010 census.Grand Island is home to the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center which is the sole agency responsible for training law enforcement officers throughout the state,...



Fox affiliates KCPQ
KCPQ
KCPQ, channel 13, is the Fox television affiliate licensed to Tacoma, Washington serving the Seattle/Tacoma television market, owned by the Tribune Company...

 in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

—owned by Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...

—and XETV-TV in Tijuana, Mexico
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...

 and San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

—owned by Mexican media giant Televisa
Televisa
Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...

 and operated by Entravision
Entravision Communications
Entravision Communications Corporation is a media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several of the top Hispanic markets. They are the largest affiliate...

 under a Local Marketing Agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...

—were both reportedly undecided, but each indicated that if they aired the special, they would not sell local ad time, instead giving that time to local domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

 organizations to air public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...

s.

Fox affiliate WRAZ in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

, owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company
Capitol Broadcasting Company
Capitol Broadcasting Company is a TV and radio broadcast company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They also own and operate the minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls.-TV:*WRAL-TV 5...

 was the last station to refuse to air the special.

NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 said that it was approached to air the interview, but declined, saying, "This is not a project appropriate for our network." NBC formerly employed Simpson as a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 analyst.

Project cancellation

On November 20, 2006, News Corporation issued a statement saying that the book and television special had been cancelled. In the statement, NewsCorp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....

 said,
"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson."

The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 called the book's cancellation "an astonishing end to a story like no other," noting that a publisher withdrawing a book for its content "is virtually unheard of."

Because the interview exists on tape, executives at Fox and News Corporation said it is likely to turn up somewhere, perhaps on the Internet.

On November 21, 2006, Denise Brown accused Fox of trying to stop the Goldman and Brown families from criticizing the project by offering millions of dollars for their silence surrounding the project, "They wanted to offer us millions of dollars. Millions of dollars for, like, 'Oh, I'm sorry' money. But they were still going to air the show," Brown said. "We just thought, 'Oh my God.' What they're trying to do is trying to keep us quiet, trying to make this like hush money, trying to go around the civil verdict, giving us this money to keep our mouths shut."

Denise Brown told NBC's The Today Show that her family's response was: "Absolutely not." Fox confirmed that the Brown and Goldman families were offered profit participation deals for the projects but denies that it was hush money. "Last week, when concerns were raised by the public that we were profiting from this guy's story, we tried to work out some arrangement with the family. Never was there any suggestion of them being barred from talking about it. We would never suggest that," said News Corp spokesman Andrew Butcher. HarperCollins announced on December 16, 2006 that Judith Regan was fired for allegedly making "anti-Semitic" remarks and that ReganBooks would be absorbed into the HarperCollins General Books group. Regan eventually sued for wrongful termination, stating the accusations were a complete fabrication, and settled, eventually compelling News Corporation to admit the anti-Semitic accusations were untrue.

Leak on the Internet

On June 13, 2007, a PDF version of the book was leaked
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...

 on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 through Rapidshare
RapidShare
RapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...

 and appeared the next day on various BitTorrent websites. The original Rapidshare
RapidShare
RapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...

 post was announced through a video posted on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 which showed a hardcover version of the book followed by a computer screen on which appeared the Firefox browser with the Rapidshare
RapidShare
RapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...

 address.

Republication

On August 14, 2007, it was reported that a literary agent for the Goldman family, Sharlene Martin, had made a deal to publish the book under the new title "Confessions of the Killer." All of Simpson's writing was to remain intact, with the addition of "key commentary." The book was released about a month later, on September 13, 2007. Some of the proceeds benefit the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice. The Ronald Lyle Goldman Justice Foundation was planned in 1995 to fund civil legal action against Simpson.

In February 2007, a Canadian publisher, Barclay Road Inc. expressed interest in publishing the book. Barclay Road CEO Herbert Becker said that public opinion turned against the book without anybody really knowing of its contents. He said his company would look into obtaining the rights to the book.

Transfer of rights

Rights for the book were transferred to the Goldman family, who receive 90 percent of profits, as part of their settlement. The family's lawyers announced intentions to pursue new publishing, film, or TV deals in order to receive some of $33.5 million awarded to them in the civil case.

Lawsuits

Fred Goldman sued Lorraine Brooke Associates, a shell corporation, for the publishing rights after it filed for bankruptcy. After Goldman purchased the rights from the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Nicole's father, Louis H. Brown, sued Goldman, attempting to stop the publication but lost.

Contents

The first part of the If I Did It manuscript details Simpson's early relationship with Nicole and their marriage. The latter part of the manuscript describes details of the murders as they would have occurred had Simpson committed them. However, Simpson's attorney said that there is "only one chapter that deals with their deaths and that chapter, in my understanding, has a disclaimer that it's complete fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

." In Simpson's hypothetical scenario, he has an unwilling accomplice named "Charlie" who told Simpson to stop the murders, which Simpson performed anyway.

HarperCollins Publishers had planned to publish it under their Regan Books imprint on November 30, 2006. The National Enquirer made unproven claims in October 2006 that Simpson would be paid US$3.5 million for the book. Regan was quoted by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 as saying, "This is a historic case, and I consider this his confession."

A source cited by The National Enquirer described the If I Did It account of the double murder as "so detailed and chillingly realistic—with O.J. as the central figure—that it leaves no doubt it is a confession of what really happened."

In one portion of an interview to promote the book, taped before the project was cancelled, Regan said to Simpson, "You wrote, 'I have never seen so much blood in my life.'" Simpson responded, "I don't think any two people could be murdered without everybody being covered in blood."

The first version's cover, as released by HarperCollins, showed a photograph of Simpson with the words "I Did It" in red and the word "If" in white. The Beaufort version had the words "I Did It" in large type and the word "If" written in a tiny font and placed at the top of the "I". Neither version of the book has Simpson's name anywhere on the front cover.

Adaptations

A 2007 episode of Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

titled "Murder Book" is adapted from the circumstances of If I Did It. In the episode, a former professional baseball player is seeking to publish a controversial book titled If I Killed Her, describing an ostensibly fictional account of the murder of his wife for which the ballplayer was acquitted several years earlier.
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