One prominent sports media member is taking issue with the 2024 BET Awards.
The show, which aired Sunday, included an “in memoriam” segment honoring recently deceased figures like baseball icon Willie Mays and actor Carl Weathers.
However, the program also included O.J. Simpson, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and Hollywood star who was accused and later acquitted of killing his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in the mid-1990s. Simpson, who died earlier this year at 76 following a battle with cancer, was later convicted of armed robbery in 2007.
The inclusion of Simpson, a controversial figure, sparked outrage on social media and particularly irked ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. On Tuesday’s episode of his podcast, Smith delivered a lengthy critique of Simpson being featured in the segment.
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Smith began by acknowledging the BET network executives and the awards show for their viewership success and their mission to celebrate Black culture and achievements. However, he expressed strong disapproval of Simpson’s inclusion in the memorial tribute.
“I’m pretty pissed off about how Simpson’s name and image were shown on a screen onstage during the show,” Smith said.
“In the eyes of most people, regardless of an acquittal, O.J. Simpson is a double murderer,” Smith continued. He highlighted that, despite Simpson’s acquittal, many still view him as responsible for the brutal killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Smith also criticized the BET Awards, a show meant to honor Black people and culture, for including someone he believes never truly cared about the Black community until his own legal troubles arose.
“O.J. Simpson never gave a s—t about Black people until he was indicted — never gave a damn,” Smith asserted. “We should never be given a reason to talk about him again. We certainly shouldn’t be celebrating O.J. Simpson. Not when two people were damn near decapitated and he was the prime suspect.”
Smith’s scathing remarks echoed sentiments shared by Fred Goldman, Ronald Goldman’s father. In an interview with NBC, Goldman expressed his displeasure with Simpson being included in the show.
“I thought it was wrong,” Goldman said. “It’s hard to imagine that he would fall in the same category as the vast majority of other people they honor.”
The controversy over Simpson’s inclusion in the BET Awards’ “in memoriam” segment underscores the deep divisions in public opinion about his legacy and the broader implications of honoring such a contentious figure. While the show aimed to celebrate influential Black figures, the decision to include Simpson has sparked significant debate and criticism.
