Star of American football, O J Simpson, who was controversially cleared  of double murder, has died of cancer, aged 76, according to his family |surrounded by his children and grandchildren. He earned fame and fortune playing in NFL and playing star role in Naked Gun. He played football at college before being signed to the Buffalo Bills NFL team in 1969, where he played until 1977. He became one of the greatest ball carriers in NFL history. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush to more than 2000 years in a season. He retired in 1979.

In 1994, he was arrested as a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. In the trial of the century prosecutors argued Simpson killed Brown in a jealous fury revealing evidence of blood, hair and fire tests linking Simpson to the murders. But the defence argued Simpson had been framed by police motivated by racism. Prosecutors asked Simpson to wear a pair of blood-stained gloves allegedly found at the scene of the murder, but Simpson struggled to put on the gloves. The blunder led to one of Simpson’s lawyers, Johnnie Cochrane, telling the jury in his closing arguments: “ If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” The Jury ultimately aided with Simpson, who declared he was “absolutely 100 per cent not guilty”. 

Orenthal James Simpson,  in 1995, was acquitted of the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown and a friend in a trial that gripped America. In 2008, he was sentenced to 33 years’ imprisonment on charges of armed robbery. He was however, released in 2017.