Buffalo Bills, NFL and USC ignore OJ Simpson’s death

The Buffalo Bills were attacked social networks for not acknowledging the death of OJ Simpson, who was arguably the franchise’s best and most famous player.

Before Simpson died of cancer on Wednesday, he was considered one of the best running backs the National Football League has ever seen. When he retired from professional football in 1979, Simpson was the NFL’s second all-time leading rusher. He spent nine of his 11 years playing in Buffalo.

Simpson is also one of the most famous double murder defendants of all time, although he was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in a highly controversial trial in 1995 which lasted almost a year.

The Bills — who could not be reached for comment Thursday — went all day without mentioning his death. And fans noticed.

“No mention of OJ,” wrote one X user. “Just the best player in team history.”

The team last posted the X on Wednesday to recognize former Bills wide receiver Steve Tasker’s 62nd birthday.

“Did anything happen today, guys?” asked another reviewer.

“Y’all think they would post something for OJ,” one apparent Simpson fan said on the Bills’ Instagram page.

But the team wasn’t the only one avoiding its infamy.

The NFL also did not release a statement in memory of Simpson. Neither did the University of Southern California, where Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 while setting the all-time single-season rushing record in college football.

The Heisman Trophy Association briefly acknowledged Simpson’s death.

“The Heisman Trophy Trust mourns the passing of 1968 Heisman Trophy winner OJ Simpson,” officials said Thursday. “We express our sympathy to his family.”

Simpson’s Heisman Trophy was seized to help settle part of a $33.5 million wrongful death lawsuit won in 1997 by Ron Goldman’s family. Simpson refused to pay this judgment.

In 2019, ESPN reported that the Heisman was purchased for $255,000 at an auction in 1999 and then sold to a private collector in Nevada.

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