OJ Simpson shuts down reports he’s in ‘hospice’ following cancer treatment

Former NFL star confirmed that ‘all is well’

OJ Simpson invoked Donald Trump after reports suggested he was in hospice care after undergoing chemotherapy for prostate cancer.

“Hey X world, hospice? Hospice? You talking about hospice?” the former American football running back – who was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his wife and her friend – said in a video posted to X on Friday (9 February).

“No, I’m not in any hospice. I don’t know who put that out there,” he continued. “I guess it’s like Donald [Trump] says, ‘You can’t trust the media.’

“In any event, I’m hosting a tonne of friends for the Super Bowl here in Las Vegas. All is well, you know. So take care, have a good Super Bowl weekend.”

Local 10 News reported on Friday, citing sources, that Simpson had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was currently undergoing chemotherapy in Las Vegas.

However, when approached for comment, the NFL star’s lawyer directed The Independent to an old tweet shared by Simpson on 30 May 2023, in which he revealed that in “really recent years, I unfortunately caught cancer”.

“So I had to do the whole chemo thing,” he said at the time, adding: “I’m over the chemo... I’m healthy now. It looks like I beat it – I’m happy about that.”

Simpson didn’t specify what kind of cancer he had been treated for.

The former Buffalo Bills star was controversially acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.

The People of the State of California v Orenthal James Simpson murder trial was labelled “the trial of the century” and sparked massive debates on racial and criminal justice across the country.

A couple of years later, Simpson was found liable for their deaths in a 1997 California civil case that ordered him to pay $33.5m (£26.6m) to the victims’ families.

He was then convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas after leading a group of men into the room of a sports memorabilia collector and robbing him at gunpoint. He served nine years in prison before being released in 2017.

Simpson has been known to weigh in on legal cases that have captured national attention. In June 2023, he shared legal advice with Trump after the former president’s historic second indictment.

“I’m [going to] share some advice that I got from the greatest legal minds of our generation,” he said before going on to name a number of his lawyers from over the years and adding: “The one thing they all told me, and stressed to me: ‘Do not talk about the case publicly. Do not do interviews about the case.’”