One of the nation’s greatest football players-turned actor, O.J. Simpson, who later became a household name when he was charged with the 1994 murder of his ex-wife and her friend, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76, his family announced on social media.
“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” the family posted on Simpson’s X account.
Simpson’s attorney also confirmed his death Thursday to TMZ.
We recently reported on OJ after he took to social media to deny hospice rumors.
In a clip posted to his 870,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), he can be seen sitting in his car, telling the camera, “Hospice? Hospice? You talking about hospice,” before bursting into laughter.
“I don’t know who put that out there… like The Donald [Trump] say, you can’t trust the media! In any event, I’m hosting a ton of friends for the Super Bowl here in Las Vegas, and all is well. So hey guys, take care, and have a good Super Bowl weekend.”
Black men make up roughly 37% of all newly diagnosed prostate cancer cases. Black men get prostate cancer at a younger age than men from other groups, and they are more likely to have advanced disease when they are diagnosed.
Ultimately, Black men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than most other men.
However, when prostate cancer is detected earlier—either at a localized stage before the cancer has spread outside the prostate or a regional stage when spread is limited to nearby body structures—the odds of survival are high. “Prostate cancer is the only cancer that has a five-year survival rate of 96 to 100% when found early,” says Vincent M. Bivins, M.D., FACS, president of Urology Centers of Alabama.
But when it comes to getting the treatment that Black men need, the data is just as heartbreaking.
A new study led by investigators at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found Black men diagnosed with more advanced stages of prostate cancer are significantly less likely to be prescribed novel hormone therapy than other racial and ethnic groups – including white or Latino men – despite the therapy being proven to effectively control the growth of prostate tumors and extend the lives of men with the disease.
The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, reveal a concerning racial disparity in the treatment of the disease.
“This revelation is particularly concerning given the already disproportionate impact of prostate cancer on Black men, who are 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed and 2.4 times more likely to die from the disease than white men in the United States,” said co-senior study author Dr. Amar Kishan, professor of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a researcher at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Simpson ultimately was acquitted of stabbing to death Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles in one of the most sensational trials of the 20th century. But his life was forever changed; he went from a sports idol to a celebrity-in-exile before being sentenced to 33 years in prison for a bungled 2007 Las Vegas hotel robbery.
On the field, Simpson has gone down in the history books as one of football’s all-time great running backs.
He became USC’s second Heisman Trophy winner in 1968, earning the most first-place votes (855) in the award’s history. That season, he established a then-NCAA single-season rushing record with 1,709 yards as he guided the Trojans to a Rose Bowl appearance, where they lost to top-ranked Ohio State despite Simpson’s 171 yards and 80-yard TD.
In his two seasons at USC, Simpson was…
