Fred Goldman, the father of Ron Goldman, reacted to reports of O.J. Simpson’s death on Thursday, telling NBC News that he considers Simpson’s passing “no great loss to the world.”
Ron Goldman was murdered alongside Nicole Brown Simpson at her Los Angeles home in June 1994. Goldman’s parents had maintained that O.J. Simpson was responsible for their deaths, despite his acquittal in the following year. Simpson was, however, found liable in 1997 for the deaths, and ordered to pay $33.5 million to family members of Brown and Goldman.
In a statement to NBC News, Fred Goldman said Simpson’s death only highlighted the loss of his own son.
“The only thing I have to say is it’s just further reminder of Ron being gone all these years,” Fred Goldman said in a phone interview. “It’s no great loss to the world. It’s a further reminder of Ron’s being gone.”
O.J. Simpson died Wednesday, according to an X post on his verified account, and attributed to his family. He was 76.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the X post read. “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”
Simpson was reportedly in Las Vegas at the time of his passing, according to TMZ.
Fred Goldman wasn’t the only person in Simpson’s life, adversary or otherwise, to comment on his passing.
David Cook, a San Francisco attorney for the Goldman family working to collect a judgment in the family’s favor, said, “He died without penance. We don’t know what he has, where it is or who is in control. We will pick up where we are and keep going with it.”
Caitlyn Jenner, on X, simply wrote, “Good Riddance #OJSimpson.”
Others shared messages of sympathy and support for Simpson’s children, including Kato Kaelin, Magic Johnson and the moderators of the official X account of the Heisman Trophy.
Simpson originally rose to fame as a leading rusher in the NFL, earning an MVP title in 1973 and making six Pro Bowls. He was also a first-team All-Pro selection five times, and ultimately inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Simpson’s legacy, however, was forever changed by the June 1994 knife slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. Live TV coverage of his arrest after a famous slow-speed chase marked a stunning fall from grace for the sports hero.
He would later be found not guilty after a televised court case that gripped the country and has since been covered in books, television, and film. In 1997, he was found liable for the deaths and ordered to pay $33.5 million in a civil case.
A decade later, still shadowed by the California wrongful death judgment, Simpson led five men he barely knew into a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a cramped Las Vegas hotel room. Two men with Simpson had guns. A jury convicted Simpson of armed robbery and other felonies.
He was ultimately found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping, receiving a sentence of 33 years in prison. In 2021, Simpson was granted early release from parole, which he had been on since 2017.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.