Judging from what I’ve been seeing on social media, no one seems particularly perturbed about the passing of America’s preeminent golf enthusiast / double murderer. (Donald Trump is America’s preeminent golf enthusiast / mass murderer.) “With all of the division in this country right now,” someone posted, “I find it very nice to see all sides come together to celebrate the passing of O.J. Simpson.” These are some worthy weighings-in that I saw. I’m sure there are millions more that I missed.
“Cancer denies responsibility, vows to find the real killer.”
“Tonight we report the unfortunate passing of NFL legend OJ Simpson, may he rest in peace. On a more positive note, sources say the real killer has been found dead!”
“Former football player and actor O.J. Simpson died this week. While some are saying this is a sad tie, I think it’s nice he got to go out doing what he loved: Being with someone as they died.”
“O.J. Simpson? The 1968 Heisman winner?”
“O.J.Simpson died on the same day Ford issued a recall on the Bronco.” [True]
“They should bury him in a coffin that’s a little too small.”
“Twitter during that Bronco chase would have been gold”
“RIP O.J. you would have hated ring doorbells”
“Happy O.J. Is Dead Day To Those Who Celebrate!”
“Big day for Casey Anthony, with O.J. Simpson dead she’s now the most famous person who everyone knows did a murder but is just like out there living life”
And then there was this. This!
That!
As my wife Liz Dubelman has observed, the whole O.J. saga — its violence, its stupidity, its hilarity — is the bridge from the 20th Century to the 21st. O.J. unleashed the pestilence of the Kardashians on the world, lowering the bar for celebrity enough that even a stupid psychopath like Trump could qualify. MAGA owes O.J. everything.
If I said I’m sorry he’s gone, I’d be lying like a Trump.
Sixteen people have sat behind SNL’s Weekend Update desk since Chevy Chase insufferably smirked there in 1975, but the brilliant and fearless Norm Macdonald (1994-1997) is widely and properly considered to have been the best. Not to take anything away from any of the other anchors — except for Dennis Miller, I couldn’t stand him — but Norm was in a league of his own, as any of the others would probably acknowledge.
For anyone who doesn’t know the back story, NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer got Norm fired after three full seasons of his savagely withering jokes about Ohlmeyer’s killer BFF, O.J. As Norm put it on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee after the firing, “His best friend is O.J. Simpson, right? Now, if you can like O.J. Simpson, you can like me.”
Someone performed the enormous public service of compiling all of Norm’s O.J. jokes in one video. It’s as funny a way to spend half an hour as the planet provides. The relentlessness of it is exhilarating. You may read many O.J. obituaries, but this video is the thing you’ll remember.
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