What sort of a world do we live in where a man can't even make a tidy profit from a poorly-conceived hypothetical confession book about his son's brutal murder written by the exact same man who he's long accused of being his son's murderer?
All Fred Goldman wants to do is take control of If I Did It, Here's How It Happened by OJ Simpson – the book where OJ Simpson describes the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman even though he was found innocent of murder – rewrite bits of it, change its name to Confessions Of A Double Murderer and make stacks and stacks of ethically dubious money from it. But gossip site TMZ.com ruined all that by briefly posting a manuscript of OJ Simpson's book online on Tuesday, and now Fred Goldman's on the warpath – not only does he want a court to hold TMZ in contempt for posting the manuscript, but also he's thinking about changing the book title yet again, this time to TMZ.com Is A Bag Of Fannies.
If Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were as hard to kill as the endless news stories about OJ Simpson's If I Did It, Here's How It Happened, then the murderer – whoever that was – would still be standing over them now, stabbing away and screaming "Why won't you die?" And after 13 years of unsuccessful stabbing, your arm's going to ache a little bit.
We thought that once Rupert Murdoch decided to axe If I Did It, Here's How It Happened, that'd be the last of it. But no, the next thing we know OJ Simpson is describing his hypothetical murders in a magazine and incurring the wrath of Fred Goldman – murdered Ron Goldman's father – who tried to sue OJ Simpson for making money that should have been given to him after OJ Simpson was found to be liable for the murders in a civil court to the sun of $33 million. Following that a judge froze OJ Simpson's assets to see if OJ was hiding the money in a fake company and the head of the supposed fake company – OJ Simpson's daughter – was ordered to court.
Now the plan seems to be that the Goldmans will profit from OJ Simpson's book, although only once the name gets changed to Confessions Of A Double Murderer and a new cover gets printed where OJ Simpson is pictured stabbing a bunch of people and laughing in a sinister way. Or something. But that plan apparently got ruined when gossip site TMZ decided to post a manuscript of the book online. For ten minutes. The Washington Post reports:
Lawyers for the family of Ron Goldman and a bankruptcy trustee say celebrity gossip Internet site TMZ.com should be held in contempt for posting a manuscript of O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It" book. The Web site and its lawyer contend the company did nothing wrong and that the manuscript was only posted briefly, though excerpts remained on the Web site Wednesday afternoon.
Now, lawyers for TMZ – owned by AOL and Time Warner – are saying that it was only on TMZ briefly, that it had appeared on other sites before then and the excerpt are allowed under a fair use news doctrine. Meanwhile, the Goldmans are saying that nobody's going to be interested in buying the book now that it's been on a fairly popular gossip blog on the internet briefly. It's exactly the outcome nobody wanted – TMZ might end up in court, the Goldmans could lose money and OJ Simpson is further humiliated by each new story about the book.
Incidentally, hecklerspray has read the manuscript to OJ Simpson's If I Did It Here's How It Happened and we're shocked – we didn't know that OJ killed Hermione too.
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SPEEDY says
The intellectual properties were still owned by the previous owner and writer, who continues to have any rights to these charges in court and this property . The Goldman’s can only win a stapin amount – just to quiet the issue. Sorry….
EXCERPT FROM ‘AN ODE TO SATIRE’
THE FINAL ODE
THE ACCUSED HAD RAISED BOTH HANDS AND OPENED HIS GLOVED FIST /
PROCLAIMING ARTHRITIS WOULD EXONERATE HIM FROM ALL THIS /
BUT WHEN ALL WAS FINAL AND THE VERDICT WAS IN /
RHETORICAL BELLOWS RANG OUT AGAIN /
TAKE THE MONEY WAS SAID, TAKE HIS FAME /
HOW SAD CRIED THE ACCUSED, IT’S A CAPITALIST GAME /
PROCLAIMING THE TIME WOULD COME /
AND LIKEWISE THE TIME WOULD GO /
THE GAME BEING PLAYED /
WOULD HAUNT OTHERS ALSO.
CLOSING WORDS IN ‘AN ODE TO SATIRE’
There also had been TV’s, Helicopters, Videos, Shows, Media blitz, media blitz, and more media blitz. Media was exercising the power of capitalism and ‘status quo.’ Multi billions of dollars passed hand to hand, aimed to show this man onerous, as if we all were not occasionally. Segments of these groups carried the longest sticks, had the deepest pockets, and had status quo on their side. They somehow felt representative of a great land, sometimes leaving out “Love of Neighbor & In God We Trust” edging the country even further toward polarization. Nations were watching America’s duplicity.
Yet – and somehow – saneness hovered over many in their darkness to dimness as we move toward the dawn of light. Most are awaiting our turn to express a need for luminosity and to elect a Christian light – It being a notable illumination for many Americans. Many judging only if they were being judged and recognizing that, retribution belongs to the Lord in all cases and not to Caesar. Reminiscent of our Sundays, recognizing our segregated love, and analyzing our fair play and honorable thoughts accordingly. Surely this practice would soon put each of us collectively on the winning team – the real Dream Team. Then and only then will there be vigilance, a group out there… waiting… many with candles… just waiting to say – not in the words of Dr. Henry Lee, the forensic expert – that “Something is wrong!” But in the words many would love to hear, that “Something is right!”
AUTHOR: Clarence G. Hanley