Simpson Takes a Run at Media : He Levels Charges of Bias in College Speech That Ignores Details of Case

OK, here goes:

In a surprise appearance at El Camino College on Monday, O.J. Simpson did not talk about the murder of his ex-wife. He did not discuss his glove size. He did not chat about his Bronco ride, his blood type, or the upcoming trial in civil court.

And he did not repeat his forceful avowals that he could not, would not and did not kill Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman.

There. That ought to take care of the news.

Or at least, the news that Simpson’s supporters fully expect to see in this morning’s paper. As El Camino graduate Mohammed Kahn put it: “You want to find out what O.J. didn’t say? Read the news.”

Indeed, if the dozens of reporters who dragged their cameras and notebooks to the community college were planning to record Simpson’s pronouncements on the murder case, they would have come away with stories full of nothing but “did not.”

For in his half-hour speech--greeted by three rousing ovations--Simpson did not spend much time talking about the killings, his trial or his acquittal. He did not even answer a lone heckler who tried to press the former football star on his efforts to discover what really happened on June 12, 1994.

Instead, Simpson presented an attack on the media for “shading” stories and letting racism--conscious or unconscious--bias coverage. Describing himself as a victim of bad press, Simpson said reporters “never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

While in jail during the criminal trial, he said, he began to seriously study television news. What he found disturbed him: In TV land, he said, “All Latinos were criminals and drive-by shooters. All African Americans were crack heads. And all Muslims were terrorists.”

Simpson said he uncovered further racism in the coverage of his own case, when reporters appeared to assume that black jurors could not understand the complex science behind DNA analysis. Eyeing a television correspondent in the audience, Simpson mentioned another incident that clearly bothered him: the reporter’s characterization of his public statements as “coached”--a word that implied, to Simpson at least, that black male athletes could not come up with cogent sentences on their own.

“I have been victimized by [the press],” Simpson said. “What the media needs to know is that they represent all of us.”

The multiracial crowd of about 750 students clearly appreciated his message.

In fact, they appreciated his mere appearance at their college, which specializes in training students for careers in nursing, radiology and other medical fields.

Rumors had churned through the campus since late last week that Simpson would turn up alongside Sheik Hisham Muhammad Kabbani, a Muslim leader due to speak at the afternoon seminar on the media. But for all the gossip, even the event’s organizers were shocked when Simpson actually rolled up to the Torrance campus in a black stretch limo.

Organizer Harold Lloyd Tyler, director of student development, couldn’t help doubting whether Simpson would really take the podium in El Camino’s auditorium, just days after his appearance at the tony debating club of England’s Oxford University. “We all had the same question: Is it going to be the sheik and O.J., or is it going to be Memorex?” he said.

The sheik and O.J. it was--and they used their joint appearance in part to describe their growing friendship.

The two met after a mutual friend told the sheik that he had seen the Koran, the holy book of Islam, in Simpson’s house. Hisham--a teacher and scholar who has established mosques across the continent--drove over to Simpson’s house and began talking with the former football great. “I guess the sheik was worried about my soul,” Simpson joked.

During his speech, Simpson described himself as drawn to Islam, although he did not commit to a conversion.

“I’m in a metamorphosis, so to speak,” he said, “because my heart is in the Bible and my heart is in the Koran.”

The Muslim Student Assn. at El Camino College sponsored Hisham’s visit. Organizers blamed the low turnout--the auditorium was less than half full--on confusion about whether Simpson would accompany the Muslim leader.

El Camino’s 23,000 students also may have been distracted by final exams, administrators said.

Still, the hundreds who did show up bubbled with enthusiasm, welcoming Simpson with chants of “O.J.! O.J.! O.J.!” and affectionately shouting out his nickname, “Juice.”

Looking relaxed during his first formal speech in the United States since his acquittal, Simpson signed autographs for the crowd and slapped plenty of outstretched hands. Only a few protesters milled about, and the one heckler who dared interrupt Simpson’s speech immediately found himself swarmed by fellow students and campus police.

The mood was a little more strained inside campus administration buildings.

Parents called and faxed their outrage at Simpson’s appearance. A feminist organization founded by Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Denise condemned the college president for allowing him to speak.

The college spokeswoman, Mary Ann Keating, also fielded two bomb threats--between calls from CNN, “The CBS Evening News,” “Hard Copy” and dozens of other media outlets.

But police guarded the doors with hand-held metal detectors, and the auditorium remained peaceful. College Police Chief Michael D’Amico said the day’s only arrest was of a young man who set off the metal detector because he was carrying metal pipes--and 15 bags of marijuana to smoke in them.