When The Los Angeles Times reported on the death of the 76-year-old former NFL running back, the notice had a reference to “Trump” being let out of a Nevada prison when it was supposed to be noting that it was Simpson who had been released in 2017 after serving nine years in the Lovelock Correctional Center.
“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 nine years,” the original obituary read. “He didn’t go far, moving into a 5,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas with a Bentley in the driveway.”
The Times was referring to Simpson being released from the prison after he was convicted and served time on robbery and kidnapping charges in a 2007 incident where he said he was trying to retrieve items he believed belonged to him, but that had been stolen.
The line in the obituary was later corrected with an editor’s note acknowledging the mistake.
“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 note read.
However, that did not stop “Saturday Night Live” from jumping in to comment. Colin Jost mentioned the obituary mistake in Saturday’s show, saying, “Instead of writing O.J. walked out of the Lovelock Correctional Center, they wrote Trump walked out of the Lovelock Correctional Center a free man for the first time in nine years.
“And it’s not a great sign for Trump that even autocorrect thinks he belongs in jail.”
Simpson was a star running back at the University of Southern California and went on to a record-breaking career in the NFL that led to his induction into the National Football Hall of Fame.
After he retired from football, he had stints as a commentator and pitchman, then turned to acting. Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985 and the couple had two children. They divorced in 1992.
In what was called the “Trial of the Century,” Simpson was found not guilty in October 1995 of the gruesome 1994 murders of his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
Simpson’s family announced that on Wednesday he had succumbed to his ongoing battle with prostate cancer surrounded by his children and grandchildren.