The Buffalo Bills' decision to exclude team legend O.J. Simpson from the Wall of Fame at their new stadium has rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. But one media figure is downright disgusted by the decision.
On a recent episode of his radio show, longtime sports analyst Rob Parker expressed outrage at the Bills over their decision. He accused them of being "cowards" for not removing Simpson from the Wall of Fame when he was alive and only waiting until he was dead to do so.
“If you ever wanted to know why the Buffalo Bills are losers, have never been able to win a championship and have all kinds of other things going on, this is a prime example. This is the worst of the worst, the most cowardish move I’ve ever seen,” Parker said. “They didn’t do this when O.J. Simpson was alive, and I don’t care what you talk about all the other stuff, because I’m not sitting here trying to make it like O.J. was the perfect person or did everything right."
Parker said that it flies in the fate of the jury verdict and the legal system for the Bills to decide to exclude Simpson when he was found not guilty in a court of law.
“But if you’re the Buffalo Bills, I have a question for you. O.J. Simpson is still in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, O.J. Simpson is still in the College Football Hall of Fame. And he was still honored at your old stadium. Why would you do this now that he’s deceased and that he’s gone? It’s a coward move. You should have done it when he was still alive if you had any cause to do it and say, ‘no, O.J. we don’t care what the jury said, we don’t care about anything, we don’t care about the legal system and how it works in this country and we’ve determined that you’re guilty and we want nothing to do with you.'
“How the hell can the Buffalo Bills have any kind of honor or ring or salute any players in that freakin’ organization and not include O.J. Simpson? He was the Buffalo Bills. Disgraceful."
Weighing Both Sides
Plenty of Bills fans agreed with Parker, declaring that the justice system should be respected and Simpson should be treated as if he were innocent.
"I'm from Buffalo and I think OJ should be on the wall. I believe in the Justice System. And he was proven innocent of murder. Guilty of robbery but that's not a removal from history offense. We have to believe and ride the wave of our ancestors or we will erase ourselves," one user declared.
"It's just a bad look , take a stand when he was alive and tell him to his face. All these years the one place he could go was Buffalo. Not as if the fan base approved but they knew without OJ they may not have the Bills. Weak move," wrote another.
"agree. what happened to respect the court's decision?" a third wrote.
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But plenty more argued that it's glaringly obvious what Simpson did despite the infamous 1995 murder trial verdict and that it would fly in the face of the team's values to honor him in spite of what he (most likely) did.
"O.J. was a great running back, my dad’s absolute favorite, he was smooth… he was The Juice, but he doesn’t deserve honor, he’s not honorable, he killed two people & lied about it & did a lot to hide it & cover it up & planned it before he took that flight. Would make family sick."
"It's 'not guilty in a court of law' it's not in the court of public opinion, private equity, or the Buffalo Bills."
"Shouldn’t kill people. That’s what happens. Nobody wants to be associated with the name."
Ultimately, it is the Bills' decision and whether the fans like it or not, Simpson will not be commemorated now or in the long-term future.
