O.J. Simpson's Death

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Overview

O.J. Simpson's Death refers to the passing of former American football player and infamous murder trial defendant O.J. Simpson, real name Orenthal James Simpson, who died on April 10th, 2024, when he succumbed to a battle with prostate cancer at the age of 76. His death was announced on Twitter / X a day after his passing in a tweet sent by his family members. In the following week, viral memes about his death surfaced across social media platforms.

Background

On February 9th, 2024, Local 10 News^[1] in Miami, Florida reported that O.J. Simpson had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was reportedly undergoing chemotherapy in Las Vegas, Nevada. The outlet did not disclose its source. The story was picked up by other outlets like TMZ^[2] on the day.

Simpson posted a video to his X^[3] account on February 9th, seen joking about the rumor, repeatedly saying, "Hospice?" with a questioning inflection (shown below).

On April 11th, 2024, a tweet was shared to Simpson's X^[4] account that announced his death. It read, "On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace."

The tweet was signed, "-The Simpson Family." In an hour, the tweet gained over 9.1 million views and 42,000 likes (shown below).

Within the hour, TMZ^[15] confirmed Simpson's death.

Online Reaction

The announcement inspired a slew of viral reactions and memes on April 11th, 2024. Many of the jokes referenced Simpson's murder trial when he was found not guilty in a controversial decision. For instance, X^[5] user @blakeslun tweeted a Simpson quote about him not wanting to go to LA because he might "run into the killer," captioning the image, "rip oj simpson. I’m glad he no longer has to live in fear," receiving over 7,800 likes in an hour (shown below, left).

Also on April 11th, X^[6] user @doofinc_ tweeted a video of Family Guy character Joe Swanson being taken by ghosts, captioned, "Nicole Brown taking OJ Simpson straight to hell," receiving over 23,000 likes in an hour (shown below, right).

Viral quotes of the announcement tweet also surfaced, like one shared by X^[7] user @crackcobain__ on April 11th, 2024, reading, "Heaven just gained another angel 🙏🏾 rest up OJ," gaining over 9,300 likes in an hour (shown below, left).

Viral quotes of TMZ's X post also surfaced, like one shared by X^[8] user @greg16676935420 on April 11th, who said, "Rest in Peace to a legend. He was never afraid to take a stab at something new," receiving over 2,300 likes in an hour (shown below, right).

Posts about Simpson's death also surfaced on Reddit, like when Redditor^[9] delebojr shared the news to /r/news on April 11th, 2024, gaining over 6,700 upvotes in an hour. Subreddits like /r/dankmemes^[10]^[11] and /r/Memes ^[12] were quickly populated with posts about O.J. Simpson's death (examples shown below).

Norm Macdonald Jokes

A common response to the death of O.J. Simpson on the day of the news breaking was memes and posts about late comedian Norm Macdonald who was known for making fun of Simpson during his stint as the host of SNL's Weekend Update.

For instance, minutes after his passing on April 11th, 2024, X^[13] user @davenewworld_2 tweeted a 10-minute video of Macdonald's jokes about Simpson, gaining over 19,000 likes in an hour (shown below).

Others posted the same video (or similar ones) within the hour, like X^[14] user @airbagged on April 11th, who said, "for no particular reason, here's 11 and a half minutes of norm macdonald shitting on oj simpson," gaining over 6,400 likes in an hour.