A CNN contributor sparked outrage Thursday when he said O.J. Simpson “represented something to the black community…especially since two white people were murdered.”
Ashley Allison made the comments as the network reported the death of 76-year-old Simpson, the disgraced NFL legend who was acquitted in 1995 of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. .
Allison, a former Obama administration official who also worked on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and transition team, looked at the racial tensions that permeated the country during the Simpson trial and its aftermath.
She said the Simpson case highlighted “how Black people in America feel about the police.”
“He wasn’t a social justice leader, but in that moment, in that trial, he represented something to the black community, especially since two white people had been killed,” Allison said.
“And the history of how black people were persecuted during slavery.”
Alison’s comments prompted a backlash, with one X user saying it was “absolutely unbridled racism.”
Another X commenter wrote, “They keep saying the quiet parts out loud.”
User X wrote that if he said the same thing about white people on FOX News, he would “get canceled immediately.”
The Post has reached out to CNN and Allison for comment.
Prominent media personality and City University of New York professor Marc Lamont Hill also said on his X account that Simpson was a “monstrous liar” who “killed two people in cold blood” and that he was innocent “is the right and necessary result of a racist criminal legal system.”
X’s post also drew backlash, with one commenter saying, “It’s outrageous to say you’ve left the black community, admit you’re a criminal, and still believe black people deserve impunity.” wrote.
Mr. Hill pointed out that Los Angeles Police Department Detective Mark Fuhrman, who was in charge of the case, was “caught lying” after calling a black person a racial epithet, and that the acquittal was justified. defended his claim.
Hill also said Fuhrman made a fifth defense when asked whether he fabricated evidence in the Simpson case.
“That raises legal questions,” Hill said. “That’s why the sentence was appropriate.”
“The system must be fair, regardless of race.”
Hill wrote that L.A. prosecutors “failed to meet.” [their] “Racist police officers aroused reasonable suspicion because of their lies and documented racism.”
“This is how the system is supposed to work,” Hill wrote. “There are no exceptions, even for people you don’t like.”
During Simpson’s trial, Fuhrman testified under oath that he had never called a black person the N-word.
But Mr. Simpson’s lawyer later introduced tape evidence in which Mr. Fuhrman was heard using the adjective.
