Kim Kardashian usually doesn’t bring up O.J. Simpson — unless it has to do with jury duty.
During a sneak peek at next week’s episode of The Kardashians, Kim, 43, jokingly wonders how to get out of doing her civic responsibility.
“It is my birthday week and I have been called to jury duty,” she tells the cameras. “I feel like there’s some kind of O.J. connection that will get me out of jury duty.”
Kim quickly clarifies that she wasn’t serious, adding, “I’m just kidding.”
Despite Kim’s surprising comment, she hasn’t spoken about her history with O.J. often. The late athlete made headlines when he was arrested and subsequently charged in 1994 with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. One of the attorneys on O.J’s legal team was Kim’s father, the late Robert Kardashian.
Robert, who was married to Kris Jenner from 1978 to 1991, shared four kids with her: Kourtney Kardashian, Kim, Khloé Kardashian and Rob Kardashian. After their divorce, Kris, 63, found love with Caitlyn Jenner, and they were together until 2013. (Robert died at age 59 in 2003 after a battle with esophageal cancer.)
In one of the most talked-about verdicts of all time, O.J. was famously acquitted of the murders in 1995, but he was found liable for Ron and Nicole’s deaths in a civil trial three years later. The Kardashians have made rare comments over the years about how seeing their parents on different sides of the trial affected them.
“O.J. was always our Uncle O.J., Nicole was my Auntie Nicole,” Khloé, 39, told E! True Hollywood Story in 2009. “You don’t really know what to believe or how to perceive it. … It’s sad to see your parents go through so much pain for trying to be true friends.”
Kim, meanwhile, said she sided with her father because she trusted him so much. “I definitely took my dad’s side,” she told Rolling Stone in July 2015. “We just always thought my dad was the smartest person in the world, and he really believed in his friend.”
According to Kim, the situation “tore” her family apart at the time.
“My mom was extremely vocal on her feelings — she believed that her friend was murdered by him and that was really traumatizing for her,” she told David Letterman in October 2020. “And then we’d go to my dad’s house and it was a whole other situation there.”
Kim didn’t want to comment on the case as she got older because of O.J. and Nicole’s kids: Sydney and Justin. “I just respect his children, so if I were to say something that would hurt someone’s feelings publicly — unless they’re coming for me and I have to defend myself or a family member — then I’m aware,” she added.
Despite largely remaining tight-lipped on the subject, Kim poked fun at her history with O.J. while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2021, joking, “It’s because of [my father] that I met my first Black person. Want to take a stab in the dark at who it was? I know it’s sort of weird to remember the first Black person you met, but O.J. does leave a mark or several, or none at all. I still don’t know.”
O.J. died at age 76 earlier this year following a private cancer battle. “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren,” read a statement shared via X in April. “During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
The news came two months after it was reported that O.J. was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. O.J. never publicly confirmed his diagnosis. A source has since exclusively told Us Weekly that the Kardashians kept their distance from O.J. before his passing.
“[It seemed like] they were all terrified of Simpson and were united in keeping track of him for their own safety,” an insider said in April, adding that it was clear that many “still considered O.J. a definite, unpredictable threat to the safety of them and their families.”
None of the Kardashians spoke out after O.J.’s death.
Hulu releases new episodes of The Kardashians every Thursday.
