History Series / ThePeopleVOJSimpson

** While the show has many other minor departures and alterations from its source material, "The Run of His Life" by Jeffrey Toobin, one of the more major ones may very well be the portrayal of Robert Kardashian. The show depicts him as a well-meaning, slightly naive and [[ConflictingLoyalty morally conflicted]] [[TrueCompanions loyal friend]] of Simpson's, while Toobin in his book views Kardashian as a frantic, obsessive sycophant clinging to media attention out of envy for his ex-wife Kris Jenner's success in the media. Of course, others have also taken issue with Toobin's book and argued that many of the details in his book are flat out wrong (including members of the prosecution team). The basics of Kardashian's character arc, coming to doubt Simpson's innocence during the trial and their friendship dissolving afterwards, are undoubtedly true. So this is one instance where the TV adaptation may actually be more true to real life than the source material was.

** Although he is acquitted of the murders, O.J. ends up being shunned by the Brentwood neighborhood and his golfing buddies, and in the latter case, he is no longer welcome at the Riviera Country Club. His party was attended by people he's never seen before, who just came for the novelty that the televised trial created around him. He also loses his friendship with Robert Kardashian. The final shot of the episode has him sadly looking at the statue of himself, reminiscing about his GloryDays as a football player, and realizing that he's all alone. And, of course, there's the knowledge that O.J. later did ultimately wind up in jail and sentenced to 33 years in prison for a different crime [[LaserGuidedKarma exactly 13 years after he was acquitted]].

** The families of Nicole and Ron thoroughly believe O.J. was guilty and received no justice for the murder of their loved ones (though in the latter case, the Goldmans are seen thinking about pursuing additional criminal action, a nod to the eventual civil trial that would take place later in which O.J. got the pants sued off of him by the Goldmans).

** Averted with Judge Lance Ito, who retired in 2015, after the trial made him a household name.

** Averted with Judge Lance Ito, who retired in 2015, presided over 500 trials after trial made him a household name.

** Although he is acquitted of the murders, O.J. ends up being shunned by the Brentwood neighborhood and his golfing buddies, and in the latter case, he is no longer welcome at the Riviera Country Club. His party was attended by people he's never seen before, who just came for the novelty that the televised trial created around him. He also loses his friendship with Robert Kardashian. The final shot of the episode has him sadly looking at the statue of himself, reminiscing about his GloryDays as a football player, and realizing that he's all alone. And, of course, there's the knowledge that O.J. later did ultimately wind up in jail and sentenced to 33 years in prison for a different crime ''exactly 13 years after he was acquitted.''

* ConflictingLoyalty: Robert Kardashian is close friends with both O.J. and Nicole, and is initially O.J.'s staunchest supporter, but as the trial progresses, he increasingly doubts O.J.'s innocence, especially after DNA evidence is introduced. By the end of the series, Rob has ended his friendship with O.J., and according to the epilogue, they didn't speak with each other again before Rob's death in 2003.
* ConvictedByPublicOpinion: The finale makes it clear that O.J.'s family, friends, and neighbors all believe him to be guilty regardless of his verdict, and that much of the nation has effectively judged him guilty too.

** Although he is acquitted of the murders, O.J. ends up being shunned by the Brentwood neighborhood and his golfing buddies, and in the latter case, he is no longer welcome at the Riviera Country Club. His party was attended by people he's never seen before, who just came for the novelty that the televised trial created around him. He also loses his friendship with Robert Kardashian. The final shot of the episode has him sadly looking at the statue of himself, reminiscing about his GloryDays as a football player, and realizing that he's all alone. And, of course, there's the knowledge that O.J. later did ultimately wind up in Jail and sentenced to 33 years in prison for a different crime ''exactly 13 years after he was acquitted.''

** Although he is acquitted of the murders, O.J. ends up being shunned by the Brentwood neighborhood and his golfing buddies, and in the latter case, he is no longer welcome at the Riviera Country Club. His party was attended by people he's never seen before, who just came for the novelty that the televised trial created around him. He also loses his friendship with Robert Kardashian. The final shot of the episode has him sadly looking at the statue of himself, reminiscing about his GloryDays as a football player, and realizing that he's all alone. And, of course, there's the knowledge that O.J. later did ultimately wind up sentenced to 33 years in prison for a different crime.

* BittersweetEnding: For all parties involved:

** Fuhrman retired from the LAPD during the trial, was charged with perjury, received three years’ probation, and paid a $200 fine.

** In "100 Percent Not Guilty", Robert Shapiro tries to convince F. Lee Bailey to defend O.J. pro bono. Bailey responds by conspiring with Johnnie Cochran to let Cochran take over.

** O.J. himself too. He gets acquitted of murder, but is convicted by the court of public opinion and all of his friends abandon him afterward, including his best friend Robert. The title cards before the credits mention his civil trial with the Goldmans (which left him bankrupt), and his robbery trial after that (which actually did send him to prison).

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The real-life Mark Fuhrman was much more complex than depicted. He indeed had a history of racism, which he himself even admitted to when he checked himself in for rehabilitation, and past acquaintances had complained that he had made racist remarks in the past. However, independent investigations discovered that, after said rehabilitation, he had a dearth of civilian complaints against him; he had successfully partnered with nonwhite cops (including a black female officer intentionally partnered with him to test to see if his racism continued) who considered him a friend and never felt uncomfortable with him; he had been called to Simpson's residence to answer a domestic disturbance call from Nicole and nevertheless did nothing to Simpson, and he had personally taken it upon himself to protect a black female witness who felt endangered (and befriended her as well; she would go on to defend his post-trial character). Even the infamous tapes were a product of him being paid to exaggerate a "police" style of speech. In the series, he's depicted as little more than a remorseless, two-faced racist who outright lied on the stand and ''owned Nazi memorabilia.''[[note]]In real life, to qualify for perjury, the lie has to be about something material to the trial; as many lawyers did not consider the race angle of the trial to be relevant, his lie about the use of the slur was considered by many professionals to not be perjury, as he was rightly embarrassed to admit it in front of a jury with many African-Americans.[[/note]]

''The People v. O.J. Simpson'' is the first season of the Creator/RyanMurphy-produced {{true crime}} {{anthology}} series ''Series/AmericanCrimeStory'', aired by Creator/{{FX|Networks}} in 2016.

Adapted from the non-fiction book ''The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson'' by Jeffrey Toobin, it covers the infamous [[UsefulNotes/OJSimpson O.J. Simpson murder trial]] that spanned eleven months between [[UsefulNotes/TheNineties 1994 and 1995]].

!! ''The People v. O.J. Simpson'' contains examples of the following tropes:

* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: Heavily implied in the resolution. OJ has a "not guilty" party thrown at his house and he gradually noticed that, other than a select few like his immediate family, he didn't actually know anyone there.

** Clark dismisses the Dream Team as a bunch of egotists who will implode, not understanding they know how to play the media game a lot better than her.

** In-universe, the fear of appearing to be a white prosecution team out to convict a black man results in the DA's office inviting Christopher Darden to join them. The episode ends with O.J. wondering aloud "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments When did they get a black guy?]]". Then it's deconstructed when Darden confides in Marcia that being accused of this implies that he has no ability as an attorney himself, and that he "stole" the spot from a worthier person, just like how he was treated 20 years before when his classmates assumed he only got into college thanks to affirmative action. Later, after a (thoroughly avoidable) disaster for the prosecution, Darden explodes at Marcia for treating him like a token and not listening to him.

** Honest prosectors wanting to put who they believe to be a murderer behind bars.
** A police force that while correct about arresting a murderer, is plagued with lots of corruption and racism.

* HardTruthAesop:
** Celebrity and fame can blind and corrupt anybody. Robert, an otherwise decent guy, allows his own admiration of O.J. to blind him to his obvious guilt, until it is too late to leave the case, and his own children end up being consumed by it.
** You can't fight a broken system while participating in it. Marcia Clark and Chris Darden fail to bring O.J. to justice, despite their beliefs that they could help the bereaved families, and are lambasted in the media for supposed incompetence. Retiring and becoming college professors means that they can do more good while helping students and taking care of their health.

** Kris Jenner was pregnant when Nicole Brown was murdered.

** For O.J. He's acquitted, but all his friends have abandonned him and he's a pariah to everyone else.

** Ito is shown facepalming when he sees a TV parody of him. In real life Ito actually found the parodies of him very flattering[[note]]In a post-trial interview, a horrified Kardashian recalled an incident where Ito actually made the jury wait an extra ten minutes in the courtroom while he was in chambers showing the attorneys Jay Leno's latest "Dancing Itos" skit[[/note]]. This may be shorthand for Ito's post-trial reluctance to engage with the media; to this day, he regularly refuses interviews and is one of the few major figures in the Simpson case not to write a book or memoir about it.

* AmbiguousSituation: In episode 5, Johnnie Cochran is pulled over by a cop while taking his daughters to the movies. Cochran assumes he is being racially profiled and almost gets arrested when he gets into an argument with the officer, but the way the situation plays out actually leaves it ambiguous whether the incident was racially motivated or not. Cochran disputes the cop's assertion that he forgot to signal a turn, but before the cop can properly respond Cochran immediately goes into a rant about racial injustice. If the cop ''was'' acting in good faith all along, his subsequent response to Cochran's hostility is fully warranted.