Sixteen years ago today, there was something on the news about O.J. Simpson…something about his wife and another person being murdered over in Brentwood and they said Simpson was a suspect. I was busy that day getting an assignment done and getting ready for a big dinner that evening to honor June Foray so I didn't pay much attention to stuff like this. (You may have to watch a brief commercial before you get to the stuff to which I didn't pay much attention…)
That evening, a bunch of us were at this dinner…and I remember that though it wasn't strictly formal, I wore my tuxedo because I thought it would amuse June and also I'd forgotten to send my suit coats out to be dry-cleaned. We were milling during the pre-supper cocktail hour when someone came in and said, "O.J. Simpson's on TV! He's in a car and the police are chasing him and he's threatening to blow his brains out!" Well, there's a distraction. Everyone drifted (some scurried) out of that ballroom and over to an adjoining room where a TV was on. There, we saw news coverage like this. (You may have to watch a brief commercial before you get to the news coverage to which we did pay much attention…)
Eventually, most drifted back to the reason we'd gone to that hotel that night, though many ducked in and out to watch, and we got periodic updates from the next room. I remember feeling sorry for June that her big evening was marred by this distraction…though if it bothered her, she sure didn't show it. I also remember thinking how what was on TV was surreal but it was even more surreal for me because I was wearing a tuxedo. I'm not sure I can explain why that is.
No one, I'm sure, realized we were witnessing Chapter One or Two (depending on how you count) of a spectacle that would consume our nation, change so many lives and call our entire system of justice into so much question. Amazingly, the "slow-speed chase" and Simpson's quasi-suicide note were barely mentioned in the subsequent criminal trial. The defense didn't want to mention them because they seemed to denote guilt. The prosecution didn't want to mention them because they feared they'd evoke sympathy. It was that kind of trial.
June had a very nice evening in spite of it.