OJ Special Cancelled

WWW- Faced with a growing uproar, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman the News Corporation, announced this afternoon that his company had canceled publication of the pseudo-memoir/confessional by O.J. Simpson, “If I Did It,” as well as a related television special that was to be broadcast on the Fox network next week.

“I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project,” Mr. Murdoch said in a statement. “We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson.”

Mr. Simpson was accused of the 1994 stabbing murders of his wife Nicole and her friend Ronald L. Goldman. After a televised trial watched by millions around the world, a jury acquitted Mr. Simpson, who had always maintained his innocence. But in the unorthodox literary project, and the accompanying television special, Mr. Simpson reportedly details how he might have killed Ms. Simpson and Mr. Goldman, if he had killed them.

His book editor, Judith Regan, who also conducted an interview of Mr. Simpson for the television special, has said the book is Mr. Simpson’s confession to the murders of Ms. Simpson and Mr. Goldman. Mr. Simpson has not spoken publicly about the book or the TV special.

The project was met with a hail of criticism, especially as it revived memories of a crime that set off a searing national debate on race, crime and whether the rich get away with murder. A dozen Fox affiliates have already said they would not broadcast the two-part program, which had been scheduled during sweeps month on Nov. 27 and 29 just before publication of the book. It was being published by ReganBooks, a HarperCollins imprint owned, like the Fox network, by the News Corporation.

Ms. Regan so far declined to comment today on the cancellation of the book and the television special.

The News Corporation also publishes The New York Post, which featured the book and the interview on its front page on Thursday, with a photo of Mr. Simpson and his late wife, both of them smiling, with a headline reading “O.J. ’fesses.”

Earlier today, the industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cable editorialized against the program, saying "Fox should cancel this evil sweeps stunt."

Although it had yet to be released, the book made the top 20 most ordered books on Amazon.com, but even on that bookseller’s Web site, a campaign to boycott the book was waged in its customers’ comments section.

Today, after the announcement that it would not be published, the book dropped to 46 on the Amazon list, and some readers reacted gleefully.

“Decency wins out over greed,” wrote one.

The Borders bookstore chain announced last week that it would donate any profits from the Simpson book to charity.

The plans for the book and the interviews outraged family members of the victims and victims’ rights organizations.

"He destroyed my son and took from my family Ron’s future and life. And for that I’ll hate him always and find him despicable," Mr. Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, said on ABC last week.

Ms. Regan is known for promoting books by celebrities and controversial figures like Jenna Jameson, the pornography star, and Jose Canseco, the steroid-popping baseball player.

Ms. Regan has said she considered the book to be Mr. Simpson’s confession, although she acknowledged that he did not say directly in the book or the interview that he killed his wife and Mr. Goldman.

In a lengthy statement she released last week, Ms. Regan said she pursued the project because she too had been a victim of abuse and wanted “to hear him say, ‘I did it and I am sorry.’ ”

“I wanted his confession,” she said.