9502010061
DETROIT FREE PRESS
951011
Wednesday, October 11, 1995
METRO EDITION
1D
Photo
:
O.J. Simpson
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO FINAL EDITION, Page 1D
Copyright (c) 1995, Detroit Free Press
O.J. INTERVIEW A SIGN OF OUR SOCIETY'S ILLS
O.J. Simpson had nine months to tell his story. He didn't speak. His
lawyers said, "We can't risk it." So he sat silent during his trial, as
experts suggested he killed his ex-wife and her friend in cold blood. He sat
silent, and he won his freedom. And after the verdict, one of his lawyers
admitted, "Had he talked, one mistake would have ruined him."
That doesn't seem to worry O.J. tonight, when he gets an hour of
uninterrupted network TV to tell his version of the story -- as part of a
three-hour extravaganza "Dateline NBC." Then again, why should O.J. worry? His
freedom is no longer at stake. The perky Katie Couric and dour Tom Brokaw are
hardly Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden. O.J. is back to the business he
left: the image business.
And from where he sits, he can only go up.
So he will come on TV tonight, and millions will watch, and the sad truth
is more people will decide his guilt or innocence based on his eyes, his voice
and what he says to two TV employees than on what they saw for nearly a year
in court. We are Americans. We watch, therefore we believe.
Simpson knows this. So do the people advising him. The right TV moment can
change your life. Think of Ronald Reagan embarrassing Jimmy Carter during the
debates with "There you go again." Next thing you knew, Reagan was president.
So O.J. will be interviewed -- not in an open press conference, where
anyone can ask a tough question, but in a closed TV studio, at his old
network, NBC, through a deal set up by an exec and old friend, Don Ohlmeyer.
O.J. seems comfortable. Why not? He's an actor. And anyone who thinks he
isn't practicing his lines doesn't understand public relations.
Which is what this is all about.
And it's shameful.
Money, money, money
Not because he's being interviewed. Let's make that clear. He deserves a
chance to tell his story, and any decent journalist would interview him, just
as they would have interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald. It is not the interview
that is disturbing. It's that O.J. dictated the terms. That he chose the
network. That he got it live and prime time. And that NBC, in a stone-face
attempt to hide its glee, is telling people how it won't make any money on
the broadcast, since it won't air commercials during the interview part. "We
will actually lose $1.4 million," said Andy Lack, the head of NBC News.
Beware of people who brag about how much money they're losing. It usually
means they're making it somewhere else.
Which NBC will. Lack said, "We didn't want to be seen as profiting." But
that's just during tonight's show. If NBC wins the ratings week, or if
"Dateline's" future ratings are boosted, the network doesn't plan on giving
money back, does it?
Let's play straight here, fellas. Naturally, NBC won't air commercials
during the interview. What company would risk having its detergent ad appear
seconds after Simpson says something that outrages millions of people?
Instead, the companies put commercials in the hour before and the hour after
the interview. They know they'll have a huge audience for both. Ask yourself a
simple question: If this thing isn't about ratings and money -- why are they
making it three hours long?
Which brings us to the advertisers. I asked NBC for a list, but a spokesman
told me "it's not our policy to reveal names of sponsors." The spokesman did
say that "not one company" canceled its scheduled ads.
This means: 1) they have no problem with the program or 2) they can't
resist the huge rating it's bound to get.
Either way is disgusting. Because if nothing else, they are giving a known
wife beater a perfect stage to redeem himself -- and the victim of his abuse
can't respond. She's dead.
The rest of the story
And this is the real issue here. Simpson may or may not be guilty of
killing his ex-wife, Nicole, but he is certainly guilty of beating her to a
pulp. That was his voice screaming, "Bitch! I'll kill you!" on a 911 tape.
That was his wife screaming desperately for help. How anyone can endorse such
a person's chance to spin his story is beyond me. Any woman who has been
abused by a violent husband will sit there tonight in disbelief.
And here is what they'll likely see: O.J. crying over his past sins.
Sounding sincere. And quite possibly lying through his teeth. If you think
this is cynical, go back and get an issue of New York magazine from a few
weeks ago -- before the verdict. In a story called "The Rehabilitation of
O.J.," five celebrity publicists -- what a job -- predicted what they would do
if O.J. were acquitted:
From the publicist who handles Nancy Kerrigan: "O.J. would have to pursue
a course of profound humility . . ."
From the publicist who handles George Steinbrenner: "He can't be exuberant
by any means . . ."
From the publicist who handles Mia Farrow: "I'd let him do one TV
interview . . . to prove he's really a nice guy."
Cynical? If you're not cynical about celebrity, you're deaf.
So the dance begins tonight. Who knows, Simpson may waltz his way all the
way back to a TV job. We're a visual society. We fall for looks. But after all
is said and done, tonight's three-hour special will serve only two main
purposes: to rebuild O.J. and to sell a lot of soap.
If you think those are worthwhile causes, by all means, watch the whole
thing. And heaven help you.
O.J. SIMPSON