Vassar grad at center of O.J. Simpson scandal

Katie Paul News Editor

After widespread public outrage and accusations of bad taste, media executives have cancelled the latest project of notorious publisher Judith Regan, Vassar Class of 1975. In his book If I Did It and a corresponding television interview, O.J. Simpson planned to explain how he would have murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Regan is widely regarded in the industry as a successful and aggressive publisher of controversial material. Since graduating from Vassar with a Bachelor’s degree in English, she has successfully established her ReganBooks imprint at HarperCollins Publishers with best sellers such as Jose Canseco’s Juiced and Jenna Jameson’s How to Make Love Like a Porn Star.

If I Did It, published by ReganBooks, was scheduled for release on Nov. 30. FOX was set to air a two-part television interview with Simpson on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 in anticipation of the release. HarperCollins and FOX are both owned by News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch’s media giant. Murdoch cancelled the book-interview package on Monday, Nov. 20, calling it “an ill-conceived project.”

Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995 after a lengthy, highly public trial that many have dubbed the “trial of the century.” Public opinions polls throughout the trial showed that views about Simpson’s guilt were in large part polarized along racial lines. An estimated 150 million people, more than half of the U.S. population, watched the verdict as it was delivered live on television, making it one of the most watched events in American history.

In an eight-page statement entitled “Why I Did It” (released on Nov. 17), Regan explained that she chose to publish Simpson’s book because she equated it with the public confession of a killer. She emphasized her personal motivation for publishing a confession by explaining how she, like Nicole Brown, had been a victim of domestic abuse.

“I had once been that young woman who loved with all of her heart and believed in the goodness of man,” wrote Regan. “The trusting girl who fell for the guy, who believed in the beauty of romance, the power of love, the joy of family and the miracle of motherhood. Like Nicole Brown, I believed with all my heart...and then got punched in the face. Literally.”