If BET did it.
At the 2024 BET Awards, which aired on Sunday night, there was a backlash on social media when OJ Simpson was included in the “In Memoriam” segment.
The montage included notable actors and celebrities who passed away in 2024, such as prolific character actor Bill Cobbs, “Rocky” star Carl Weathers, and baseball legend Willie Mays.
Tia Mowry, 45, introduced the moment as a tribute to “the Black excellence that we unfortunately lost this year,” saying, “It’s never easy to say goodbye to those who influence us, but we can take a moment to celebrate and acknowledge their contributions to the culture.”
The celebrities honored “changed how our artistry is seen and left us with a legacy that we will always remember,” Mowry said.
Simpson died at age 76 in April after a battle with cancer.
“No f–ng way they added OJ SIMPSON in the tribute,” one outraged fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“OJ Simpson being honored……. We’ve lost the plot [for real],” another viewer said.
“lol OJ Simpson in memoriam for anything is WILD no matter how you slice it,” another post remarked.
During his NFL days, Simpson won four NFL rushing titles, rushed for 11,236 yards over his career, scored 76 touchdowns, and was featured in five Pro Bowls.
He also had an acting career, appearing in hit movies like “The Naked Gun.”
But, he’s most famous for his 1994 televised police chase in his white Bronco and his 1995 murder trial, which was dubbed “the trial of the century.”
Despite a seemingly damning stack of evidence, Simpson was ultimately acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman — and that verdict is widely considered to be one of the great failures of the American justice system.
Immediately following his death, “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin reminisced, “I remember feeling a great sense of injustice happened; it’s one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. For me the tragedy was the injustice,” she said, later clarifying that the “injustice” was that he was not found guilty.
“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin added about Simpson’s death, “I hope it gives some peace to the family of the victims … I agree it was a miscarriage of justice.”
Despite avoiding jail for murder, a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to Brown and Goldman’s families.
In 2007, he also famously wrote a book called “OJ Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened.”
That same year, he was arrested on Sept. 16 in connection to an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel and casino aimed at “stealing back” his own memorabilia. He was found guilty and sentenced to up to 33 years behind bars on October 3, 2008 — exactly 13 years to the day he had been acquitted of murder.
He was granted parole in 2017 at the age of 70.
The Post reached out to BET for comment.
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