Outcry prompts cancellation of Simpson's TV, book project

O.J. Simpson's book and scheduled television interview were scrapped yesterday, bringing a jarring end to a multimedia melodrama involving the former football star and the crimes of which he was acquitted more than a decade ago.

Calling the project "an ill-considered decision," Rupert Murdoch canceled plans for two of his corporate divisions, Fox Television and HarperCollins Books, to broadcast and publish Simpson's account of how he would have killed his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, had he committed the crimes . The plans had provoked harsh criticism from the Brown and Goldman families, among others, to whom Murdoch apologized for any pain the project had caused them.

Many Fox affiliates expressed relief at the network's decision, as did booksellers who had been urged to order copies of the book while being kept in the dark about its author and subject matter.

Brown and Goldman were brutally killed in 1994 in Brentwood, Calif. Simpson stood trial for the murders in 1995 and was acquitted. He was later found liable for the deaths in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the Goldman family.

Yesterday's announcement follows days of intense debate within the television and publishing industries over the propriety of giving Simpson money -- a reported $3.5 million -- and a platform to discuss the slayings. Simpson's book, titled "If I Did It," was due in bookstores Nov. 30 and has been described as an "imagined confession." A two-part interview with Simpson, conducted by his high-profile book editor, Judith Regan of HarperCollins, was slated to air on Fox next Monday and Wednesday during the ratings-driven "sweeps" period.

"I think News Corp. finally stepped up, admitted they made a mistake, and did the right thing," said Jonathan Polak , a lawyer for Fred Goldman, Ronald Goldman's father. "This is everything we have been asking News Corp. to do for the past two weeks."

At least a dozen Fox affiliates across the country had already decided not to air the interview. Managers of six group-owned affiliates, including WPRI in Providence, met Friday and communicated their displeasure to Fox management, said Jay Howell , WPRI's president and general manager. The stations' decision was made public just hours before Murdoch's statement.

"The advertisers all wanted out," Howell said yesterday. "For us, it was a fairly easy call. If this were O.J. confessing to Mike Wallace on '60 Minutes,' it would have run. But from what we heard, this was basically paid programming for the book."

Michael Palmer , vice president and general manager of WFVX, the Fox affiliate in Bangor, said his station would have reluctantly aired the interview had Fox broadcast it. "It was reprehensible, and certainly not something suitable for the holidays," Palmer said yesterday. "Frankly, I think we all suspected it would be taken off after they saw the national backlash."

Management at Boston's Fox 25 affiliate, which is owned and operated by the network, did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

According to HarperCollins spokeswoman Erin Crum, all copies of the book not already shipped to booksellers will be destroyed. It was unclear yesterday how many copies had been printed.

Shock at the book's abrupt cancellation rippled through the bookselling trade yesterday, especially in light of how it had been sold to bookstores. Normally, booksellers are given early copies or at least a close summation of the content, but that did not happen in this case.

"Nobody had a chance to read it," said Ann Binkley , a spokeswoman for Borders Books and Music, which has 1,100 Borders and Waldenbooks stores nationwide. "It wasn't on the fall schedule. They just dropped it on us a couple of weeks ago. When it came out Wednesday what [the book] was about, we discussed it and made our decision." On Friday, Borders announced it would not promote the book or display it prominently in stores, and would give all profits to a charity working to fight domestic violence. "We agreed that we would sell it, but we didn't want to make a profit on it," Binkley said. "This is unprecedented."

Barnes & Noble, the other big national bookselling chain, did not return a call yesterday, nor did HarperCollins or its imprint ReganBooks.

Independent sellers were similarly relieved by the decision to cancel the book.

"There was controversy across the country," said Frank Kramer, owner of Cambridge-based Harvard Book Store, who said e-mails about the book had been circulating among independent sellers. "Most of them said they would not carry the book or said they would give proceeds to battered women's shelters."

Like Borders, Kramer said he felt burned by ReganBooks. "We bought a couple of copies," he said, "but the real outrage was that it was sold blindly."

"This is a book that we would not have bought, because our particular customers would not have been interested," he said. Having bought it, however, he said he would have sold it because not to do so would only increase its notoriety.

Dale Szczeblowski , co-owner of Porter Square Books in Cambridge, said he probably wouldn't have ordered the book had he known what it was. "We don't censor books, but we do make judgment calls all the time about whether we'll carry certain titles," he said.

Books have been withdrawn by publishers in the past, but usually because of allegations of plagiarism, fraud, or well-founded doubt about the veracity of the author. In this case, booksellers were offended by the very thing that normally makes them salivate -- the book was likely to make money.

"Booksellers rightly felt that they didn't want to put money into O.J. Simpson's pocket," Kramer said. "I felt that way, too -- making money off a crime like this is an awful thing. He was found guilty in a civil court. Why would we want to contribute to making him a wealthy man? I'm offended by the idea."

The controversy also threatens to tarnish the reputation of Regan, who operates with a large degree of independence within News Corp. Regan joined HarperCollins in 1994 and has published such recent best sellers as "Juiced, " a tell-all memoir by former baseball star Jose Canseco , and "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star," by adult-film star Jenna Jameson . Last year, Regan announced she was moving her imprint to Los Angeles to make it easier to develop film and television projects. She has been executive producer for several television series and has hosted programs on both Fox and Fox News.

"I would never count her out," said John Taylor Williams , a high-powered Boston-based literary agent and publishing lawyer, "but this is a pretty humiliating public event."

David Mehegan and Mark Feeney of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Wire reports were also used. Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com.