Los Angeles, Nov 24: O.J. Simpson`s scuttled book about the murder of his ex-wife attracted hot but brief bidding on eBay before being removed on Wednesday, while the former football star laughingly said he had been paid and had spent his advance.
The book, "If I Did It," and an accompanying two-part television interview were dropped by media conglomerate News Corp. on Monday after an outcry from advertisers, booksellers and relatives of the dead.
The book and interview were touted as a hypothetical account of how Simpson would have killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Simpson was reportedly paid a sum of $3.5 million in advance.
from the last 24 hours.
Publishers have pledged to recall and destroy all the books but one copy appeared briefly on eBay. It got more than 50 bids, the highest of more than $1,600, in about two hours.
In an interview with Miami radio station WTPS 1080 AM, Simpson on Wednesday again proclaimed himself innocent of the murders, said the title of the book was the publisher`s idea, and that he had been paid but declined to specify how much.
"Would everybody stop being so naive? Of course I got paid," Simpson said with a laugh. "I spend the money on my bills. It`s gone."
The former football star was acquitted in 1995 of charges he committed the bloody June 1994 murders. But a civil court jury in 1997 found him liable for the deaths and awarded the victims` families $33.5 million in damages. Little of the judgment has been collected.
Interviewer Judith Regan said last week she was told the money would go to his children, not Simpson. Regan added she was mystified why Simpson decided to write such a book.
Bureau Report
