After Sacha Baron Cohen’s insane interview with OJ Simpson, let’s take a moment to revisit just how many bizarre details of Simpson’s murder trial FX’s “The People v OJ Simpson” got exactly right.
Watching “The People v OJ Simpson,” you likely wondered if OJ Simpson (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance), Marcia Clark (Sarah Paulson) and Christopher Darden (Sterling K. Brown) really said some of the amazing lines the script put in their mouths.
We combed through the series, the book that inspired it — Jeffrey Toobin’s “The Run of His Life: The People v OJ Simpson” — and other sources to fact check some of the most outrageous moments and statements on the show.
Our verdict? Many of them hewed very closely to reality.
Johnnie Cochran really did utter the rebuke, “N—– please,” to Chris Darden. It came after an argument about whether the defense could question Det. Mark Fuhrman about his use of the N-word, according to Jeffrey Toobin’s book, “The Run of His Life,” which inspired FX’s “The People v OJ Simpson.”
Chris Darden really did tell Marcia Clark she looked good in the topless vacation photos unearthed by a sleazy tabloid.
A supermarket clerk really did joke to Marcia Clark, as she was buying Tampax, that it was going to be a rough week for the defense.
Johnnie Cochran really did advise Chris Darden to make the white prosecutors deal with Mark Fuhrman.
Jurors really did have issues over trips to Target and Ross, though not as portrayed on the show.
OJ Simpson really did yell at Chris Darden to “Get off my bench,” according to Darden.
Marcia Clark and Chris Darden really did travel together to the Bay Area, but the show’s portrayal of the lingering moment outside her hotel room door is much different from the goodnight he describes in his book, during which they were 10 feet apart.
Time Magazine really did darken OJ Simpson’s skin for its cover. The magazine apologized.
There really were two white Broncos — one owned by OJ Simpson, and one owned by friend/fan AC Cowlings.
Mark Fuhrman really did admit to collecting “German medals” from World War II, according to Chris Darden. In World War II, German medals meant Nazi medals.
If you liked reading about what the show got right, you might also be interested in how it took some dramatic license.
