Ruby Wax remembers the moment OJ Simpson called her and said ‘It’s OJ, I did it’ shortly after the pair had finished filming a documentary in which he pretended to stab her with a banana
Ruby Wax has recalled the moment OJ Simpson ‘more or less’ confessed to killing his ex-wife in what he claimed was an April Fool’s prank.
The TV personality had met Simpson after he was famously acquitted in 1994 of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
Wax, now 70, claimed in an interview with Good Morning Britain on Friday that after the pair had finished filming a documentary in 1998, Simpson called her on April 1 and said: ‘It’s OJ, I did it. April Fool’s Day!’
She claims he immediately hung up the phone after the statement, adding that the former NFL star “more or less told me what he had done”.
Wax’s appearance on the talk show came after the former football star died of prostate cancer last week.
A morbid video of Simpson pretending to stab Wax during the 1998 BBC interview has also resurfaced in the wake of his death.
Ruby Wax claimed that after she and OJ Simpson (pictured together in 1998) finished filming a documentary in 1998, Simpson called her on April 1 and said: ‘It’s OJ, I did it. April Fool’s Day!’
Simpson was acquitted, but later found civilly responsible for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown. The picture: The couple in New York in 1993
In a newly resurfaced video clip, Simpson pretended to stab Wax with a banana while making a bizarre violent noise while laughing for the camera
Wax has previously called the former NFL star, who was found responsible by a civil court for stabbing his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman to death, ‘the most complicated character on earth.’
As the pair filmed the documentary, Simpson pretended to stab Wax with a banana while making a screaming noise while laughing at the camera.
Simpson’s questionable joke came when she opened her hotel door for him, but the comedian claimed he was initially looking for a knife.
“After we finished filming, Simpson told me he has a surprise for me — and I was really surprised,” Wax said. “I think it was his idea of a joke.”
Video of the bizarre incident resurfaced Thursday as the world learned the former soccer star and murder suspect had died after a short battle with prostate cancer.
Describing their 1998 interview over 20 years later as a ‘psychological middle ground’, Wax revealed she believed she would be able to get Simpson to confess to the fatal stabbings – and even suggested he might want her to to bust him for the crime.
“I think he wanted me to beat him,” he said out of nowhere “Do you want to know what my favorite poem is,” and he went into “Lizzie Borden took an ax, and gave her mother forty cuts; When she saw what she had finished, she gave her father forty-one.”
‘I thought I could beat him,’ said Ruby. ‘(I thought) he was going to say on the air “Yeah, he did it” and I was going to put him in jail. So I was a public defender.’
Wax, 70, is a British-American actress, comedian and TV personality who interviewed Simpson, whom she has called ‘the most complicated character on earth’, 25 years ago
Simpson’s questionable joke came when she opened her hotel door for him, but the comedian claimed he was initially looking for a knife
“After we finished filming, Simpson told me he has a surprise for me — and I was really surprised,” Wax said. ‘I think it was his idea of a joke’
Simpson rose to prominence as a running back who played 11 seasons, nine with the Buffalo Bills
She recalled their first meeting and claimed he told her his favorite poem was one about Lizzie Borden, an American woman who was tried and acquitted of the ax murders of her father and stepmother in 1892.
‘The first night we went out, we went out with his sister and all these women came to the table and said “Can we meet afterwards”. They came every night and they want to sleep with a criminal.
The TV personality also addressed the odd knife joke, which she said came after the interview.
Afterwards I did a piece for the camera and said “I’ve been straightened out and I don’t know who my date is going to be” and I opened the door and it would be him.
“But when he was out there, all the hills were out there, and he was looking for a knife, to trick me, when the door was open, but there was no knife, so he grabbed a banana.”
The infamous double murder suspect died Wednesday night surrounded by his family at his home in Las Vegas.
Simpson became one of the most notorious figures in America after he was charged with the murders in 1994.
An X post his family shared on his official account said: ‘On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
‘He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you respect their wishes for privacy and grace. – The Simpsons.’
The morbid video resurfaced on Thursday as the world learned the former football star and murder suspect had died after a short battle with prostate cancer
Wax described their 1998 interview over 20 years later as a ‘psychological middle ground’ and said the odd knife joke came after the interview
OJ Simpson in a mug shot after his arrest in Los Angeles, California, USA, 17 June 1994
Simpson had awkwardly joked about “confessing” just weeks before his death in one of his final podcast appearances.
The football legend and acquitted murderer made the remark on an episode of the ‘It Is What It Is’ podcast after he was asked about Shaquelle O’Neal claiming that ‘men shouldn’t open up to women (because) they want to use that against them.’
“When you say ‘open up to women,’ I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Simpson said with a smile. ‘Is he talking about confessing? So no man, don’t confess.’
The trouble drew raucous laughter from the podcast hosts, but many saw it in a different light and felt he was making a ‘mockery’ of the murders for which he was found civilly responsible.
The podcast clip also resurfaced in the wake of Simpson’s death.