Tonight is the night everyone has been waiting for with the start of American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. Courtney B. Vance, one of the stars of this new series about O.J. Simpson’s trial is now speaking out, and Vance says that personally he thinks that O.J. Simpson is guilty of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. ABC News shared what Courtney B. Vance had to say about it all.
‘The People Vs. O.J. Simpson’ goes way beyond nostalgia bait: https://t.co/yW9Rf9qfSP pic.twitter.com/yCntSx68ci
— Mashable (@mashable) February 2, 2016
Vance plays the role of flamboyant defense attorney, Johnnie Cochran, but in real life, Vance would have never wanted this role. Vance actually revealed that he thinks that O.J. Simpson did it, so of course he wouldn’t have wanted to be someone defending him. When it all went down years ago, Vance, along with his wife, Angela Bassett, was filming the 1995 film, “Panther,” in Sacramento, California, and he talks about remembering watching O.J. Simpson in his white bronco running from the police.
“I think we were all at the hotel, sitting in the lobby area and there was a big plate glass window, I just remember that, and we were watching the Bronco chase. We were a group watching it with our mouths open asking, ‘What is going on?’”
Courtney B. Vance is playing Johnnie Cochran, and he did meet him the past, but Vance didn’t know him well. Vance also thinks that if O.J. Simpson’s trial had not been televised, then it wouldn’t have had the impact it has over the years.
“It changed television as we know it because all of a sudden people were following it… Who follows something over the course of a year? Nobody. It was transformational television and the most impactful event… outside of JFK [President John F. Kennedy’s] assassination for us all to be watching something. It doesn’t happen often.”
Huffington Post reported that Courtney B. Vance also shared that he feels Marcia Clark (played by Sarah Paulsen) made a lot of mistakes in the trial. Vance went on to explain that she did not understand what the case was about. Vance feels like Marcia thought she was putting away a monster, but didn’t think about the fact that everyone liked him, and he was a celebrity. Vance also thinks that race was an issue for sure.
“The O.J. issue is unresolved today. We’re still going through it because it’s still about race. African-Americans see the police differently than whites. In their eyes, the police treat them as animal.”
In the show, it is suggested that Cochran didn’t want to take on the case at first, but he decided to do it when his wife talked to him about how he would feel if someone else was able to get O.J. Simpson off in this case. They knew that they needed a black man on the case, and Cochran was that guy. Courtney B. Vance is making it clear that he doesn’t feel O.J. Simpson should have gotten off, but he will be the one playing Cochran in the new show and helping defend him. To this day, Courtney B. Vance feels people are still being judged by the color of their skin, and he sees that as a huge problem in American society.
Do you think that O. J. Simpson really killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman? Do you agree with Courtney B. Vance about the murder? Sound off in the comments below and don’t miss American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson tonight on FX. Courtney B. Vance will be one of the actors to watch on this one.
[Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images]