I had settled on an idea for a cartoon on another subject when the news of O.J. Simpson’s death was announced. Of course, I dropped what I was doing and went to work on an O.J. cartoon.
I had already drawn most of the cartoon when I got a better idea, but I only had to delete a portion of the artwork. It was fun.
My pal Jack Ohman, a brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist in Sacramento, texted me, “Let the OJ cartoons begin.” There will be a lot of them throughout the day. I’m sure most of my colleagues also dropped what they were doing for O.J.
One person has already commented on one of my social media posts that O.J. “didn’t do it.”
Yes, he did. O.J. Simpson murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Back then, I wanted O.J. to be innocent. I was a fan. I loved him as a player, as a pitchman, as a football analyst, and as an actor. I especially loved him as Nordberg in The Naked Gun movies. O.J. broke my heart. He broke a lot of hearts.
It was the trial of the century. Because it got so much coverage, from the Bronco chase to the trial to the verdict, and because of all the cartoons I drew on the guy, I had to draw an obit cartoon on him.
And if there is a Hell, that’s where O.J. is.
A few more notes: I was at a newspaper conference in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1994 when the Bronco Chase happened. It was the first night of the convention and there was a reception in a large hospitality suite of some sort with drinks and an atmosphere to encourage old friends to greet each other and to meet new friends. Most of the evening was spent watching OJ.
One detail that’s personally odd for me is that the murders happened when I was working for The Panolian in Batesville, MS. I went to work for the Daily Leader in January, 1995 and was fired in September, 1995. When the verdict was announced in October, 1995, I was living and working in Biloxi, MS.
Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.
Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have five copies and you can order yours, signed by me, for $45.00. You can pay through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.
Knee-Deep In Mississippi: There are only 16 copies left of my first book, published in 1997. These can be purchased for $40.00
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Watch me draw:
CLAYTOONZ 
Yeah, he broke a lot of hearts and shattered our naivete in regard to celebrity & personalities. He was just the start of the line of broken faith that continued on with Bill Cosby & Michael Jackson.
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Clay, You outdid yourself on this one. No wet glove will ever fit which I know for a fact having lost so many leather gloves over the years. 😉 What a $hit he was (in case there are any bots trying to censor this). Thanks for all the good laughs in my life. Claire Lamberth clairelamberth@gmail.com
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Censor? Ha! Have you see the language in my blogs?
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I had the TV on and sound off when I looked up to see O.J. trial coverage. I just assumed they were comparing the upcoming tRump trial with O.J.’s ‘trial of the century’ fiasco. When I finally turned up the sound and heard he’d died, I was torn – sadness for his family, and feelings of relief for the Browns and the Goldmans, and any others that he’d hurt in his life. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as my grandmother used to say. What a stupid, evil, egotistical, man.
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OJ who? gone and forgotten.
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I almost missed the Devil Pizza Rat, sort of hidden in the flames. 🔥😉
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
⚠️ONLY THE
⚠️ VOTERS CAN
⚠️ SAVE US
⚠️ NOW!!!!!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
🇺🇸November 5th, 2024.
🇺🇸Save the Date.
🇺🇸Save the Country.
🇺🇸Susan B_A from
🇺🇸 Resistanceville
🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
🌊(We Need A
🌊( Blue Wave
🌊( that is
🌊TOO BIG TO RIG
🌊TOO REAL TO STEAL
🌊*Glenn Kirshner
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Except for the “trail of the century” part, I agree. I would say that the trial of the century would be the Scopes trial. Although the penalty for Scopes was not much, there was a definite media frenzy (for the 1920s), the effects on society were more profound, and today – a full century later – they still haunt the US in their effects on education, the place of religiosity on society, on the skepticism about science, and on day to day life.
The OJ trial reflects another split in society, not so much a racial one as one of class. Does being poor or being a Black person affect outcome more in the “system” of justice? The outcome of the trial decidedly showed that wealth and fame trumped justice. It was illustrative of fundamental problems in American society, but didn’t affect them. Unlike Scopes, which punished a teacher for mentioning evolution and banned its teaching in TN. Another reason for the backwardness of that part of the country. Clarence Darrow was a warrior for truth and reason, but lost that battle to a Christian fundamentalist, conspiracy theorist and populist politician (who was a great orator and casuist.)
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Love the forked tongue on the devil. Nice touch!
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As I understand it, the civil trial gave US$33.5 million to the families of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Depending on who you believe, they have only received about US$2million so far. What I often wonder is what do they do with that money? Supposedly the children OJ had with Nicole Brown received some of the money but he was already paying for them to go to school, etc. What did Goldman’s family do with their settlement money? Ron Goldman was an separate independent individual, not supporting his family or living with them. I understand the need to make OJ pay but why give the money to Goldman’s family? Why not to people who suffer the same fates as Nicole Brown and Goldman – like shelters for abused women or people who have lost loved ones to violent crimes? Why did the Goldman family get the money and the rights to Simpson’s name, likeness, life story, and right of publicity in connection with the book, according to court documents, ensuring he would not be able to profit from the book? Why did Nicole and OJ’s children not get that money? Are the children financially secure now? I hear the Goldman family now want all of OJ’s estate – the Nevada portion, the Florida portion and the California portion. That cannot be right – the children should have it before the Goldman family. What am I missing with the distribution of this money?
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