Breaking News: O.J. Simpson Says, "The Ghostwriter Did It!"

January 15: 2007: In the wake of a Newsweek story that paraphrases a chapter entitled "The Night in Question," from O.J. Simpson's notorious, unpublished book If I Did It, Simpson is today denying that he even wrote the chapter in question, reports the Associated Press.

"I'm saying it's a fictional creation," said Simpson in a telephone interview. "It has so many (factual) holes in it that anybody who knew anything about it would know that I didn't write it."

The chapter, acquired by Newsweek by an "anonymous source," was the work of a ghostwriter, O.J. Simpson maintains, and is not a confession. He says that the ghostwriter did all the research for the "hypothetical" depiction of the murders of O.J.'s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, and wrote the chapter from that research.

In the Newsweek story, the chapter in question describes an angry O.J. Simpson driving to his ex-wife's condominium and entering the property through a back gate with a broken latch. Angry about an earlier confrontation with Nicole Brown Simpson, the chapter characterizes O.J. Simpson's trip to her home as an attempt "to scare her."

At that point, according to the Newsweek article, Simpson became furious when he found Ronald Goldman at Nicole Brown Simpson's home, accused Goldman of planning a "sexual encounter" with Nicole, and became "enraged" when Nicole's dog appeared to recognize Goldman.

The paraphrased article describes Nicole Brown Simpson as rushing at O.J., falling, and hitting her head on the ground. It gives details of the "karate stance" Goldman went into, and Simpson's challenging Goldman to fight.

"Then something went horribly wrong," Newsweek quotes Simpson as writing in the procured chapter of If I Did It, "and I know what happened, but I can't tell you exactly how."

Simpson ends up, in the chapter, covered in blood and holding a bloody knife, with Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman dead in front of Nicole's Brentwood condominium.

O.J. Simpson maintains that he did not writer the chapter in question, and "implored publishers" not to include the "created" account of the killing. He further maintains that factual inconsistencies prove that he could not have killed his ex-wife or Ronald Goldman in the manner described.

He agreed to the final version, which was pulled from publication by HarperCollins before it made it to the presses, for financial reasons.

"Was it tacky? Yes, it was tacky," he said.

"I knew it was going in it would be what it would be. It was worth it. I made a decision that it would benefit my family and my life. I don't have any regrets."

Source: Associated Press