I’m not saying it was our call to boycott O.J. Simpson’s gruesome upcoming book and his accompanying Fox interviews that did the trick. (I’m sure you know that O.J. planned to reveal that if he had killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, this is how he would have done it.)
But perhaps it was the power of Idol Chatter (and, well, more likely the huge outpouring of outrage and horror from the American television-watching public) that led to the glorious news I heard today: News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch announced that the media company is canceling the television special, “If I Did It,” which was set to air during crucial November sweeps.
Hallelujah! For once, the public has spoken, and the entertainment and media industry has listened! After a dozen Fox affiliates announced that they wouldn’t be airing the interview, the word came down from the top that the whole creepy project would be canceled. In the words of Murdoch, “I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project.”
Ill-considered? I’ll say.
He went on to apologize to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman for causing them any pain. An apology doesn’t seem enough, but at least we have that.
The kicker to this story is that late on Monday, HarperCollins also decided to cancel publication of the book as well. CNN.com reported that though early sales of the book was strong (it broke the top twenty last week), it had fallen to Number 51 by the time the cancellation was announced. The publishing company also said that though some copies had been shipped to stores, they would be recalled and destroyed.
And that’s it. I would say that this was a boycott that did its job. The sooner we forget about this and get on with daily life, the better.
posted August 2, 2007 at 2:47 pm
You know I feel that if that book and the interview did happend that maybe he could have made him self look real guilty. I think that questions unanswered and the simply fact that it was stated that if he did do it he would have done it this way makes him look guilty. I say let him convict him self. And really that is all I have to say. God Knows who did and does what.