O.J. Simpson was included in the “In Memoriam” segment during the BET Awards on Sunday night, a move that brought a noticeable reaction from the crowd.
In a video provided by TMZ Sports, the host of the segment, Taraji P. Henson, can be heard saying that the tribute was intended to honor contributors to black excellence who had died. The crowd applauded the names and faces featured in the segment until Simpson’s face appeared, and the crowd reacted with surprise.
“Among the luminaries featured in the “In Memoriam” segment were Bill Cobbs, Carl Weathers, Willie Mays, Clarence Avant, Maurice Hines, Richard Roundtree, Ron Cephas Jones, Rudolph Isley, Irish Grinstead of the group 702, Louis Gossett Jr., 2 Live Crew rapper Brother Marquis, and civil rights activist Dexter Scott King,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
O.J. Simpson rose to stardom as a running back in college football and the NFL and parlayed the success into a successful sports analyst and actor career. However, all that came to an abrupt halt in 1994 after he appeared on television screens across the country fleeing LAPD officers who were pursuing him in connection with the murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
A lengthy, nationally televised trial ensued in which Simpson was eventually acquitted of the criminal act of murder. However, in 1997, a civil jury found him responsible for the deaths of Simpson and Brown.
Simpson died earlier this year at the age of 76.
