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The Los Angeles Times mistakenly reported that former President Donald Trump served O.J. Simpson's prison sentence in his obituary on Thursday.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Simpson's family said the 76-year-old died surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
"On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer," the post read. "During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace."
The Los Angeles Times, in an obituary published Thursday, included an error that said Trump served Simpson's prison sentence. It has since been corrected.
"Long before the city woke up on a fall morning in 2017, Trump walked out of Lovelock Correctional Center outside Reno, a free man for the first time in 9 years. He didn't go far, moving into 5,000-square-foot home in Vegas, with a Bentley in the driveway," the obituary read.
The mistake was reprinted in other publications that picked up the Times' obituary, including The Loveland Reporter-Herald and The Boston Herald. Reprints were used to confirm the authenticity of the error.
When contacted by Newsweek for comment, a representative from the Los Angeles Times referred to a correction note that had been affixed to the Simpson story.
"An earlier version of this obituary incorrectly contained a typographical error that used the wrong name when describing Simpson leaving Lovelock Correctional Center. The error has been corrected," the correction read.
Despite the correction, the error nonetheless drew backlash from some on X.
"LA Times typo in OJ's obit: 'according to L.A. Times writer Elaine Woo, O.J. Simpson was arrested for robbery, but it was Donald Trump who served time for nine years... Members of the media are just itching to write stories about Trump being found guilty and going to prison,'" wrote Katy Grimes, editor of the California Globe.
"A Times accidentally uses the name 'Trump' in place of 'Simpson' near the end of their obit," wrote Zack Stanton, deputy editor of Politico's Playbook, adding a grimacing emoji.
Conservative lawyer George Conway posted, "Understandable mistake. It can be hard to keep all these clearly guilty sociopaths straight."
Simpson played 11 NFL seasons, nine of them with the Buffalo Bills. He won four NFL rushing titles and played in five Pro Bowls.
He later forged a career in show business before being acquitted in the 1995 trial of charges that he killed his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, often described as the "Trial of the Century."
Simpson's life remained tumultuous after the trial. He was found liable in a 1997 civil lawsuit for the wrongful deaths of his former wife and Goldman and ordered to pay damages of $33.5 million. Simpson, however, continued to maintain his innocence.
In 2007, he was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping, for which he was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to 33 years in prison. Simpson was granted parole in July 2017 after serving nearly nine years.
Update 4/11/24, 3:47 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
Update 4/11/24, 7:19 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more