O.J. Simpson’s Longtime Lawyer Reacts to ‘SNL 50’ Joke About Murder: ‘He Knew His Place in Society’

O.J. Simpson’s longtime lawyer reacted to a Saturday Night Live joke made about the late acquitted double murderer, revealing he felt Steve Martin’s monologue with John Mulaney was great.

The joke was made during the opening monologue of SNL50: The Anniversary Special, an event celebrating 50 years of the sketch comedy show.

“894 people have hosted SNL, and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder,” Mulaney, 42, said while he and Martin, 79, kicked off the show on Sunday, February 16.

Malcolm LaVergne, who currently serves as the executor of Simpson’s estate, surprisingly said the quip about murderers hosting the show was quite funny.

“[O.J.] knew his place in society and didn’t fight against it, good or bad. He just lived his life: golf, friends (rich ones or Joe Blue Collar), good food and hot young women. And then it was over. The end,” LaVergne told TMZ in a statement, claiming Simpson would have been “indifferent” if he heard the joke himself.

The monologue segment was referring to Simpson’s SNL hosting gig in 1978 during the show’s third season as well as Robert Blake, who hosted the hit NBC sketch comedy series in 1982.

Simpson was charged with the double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in June 1994.

The ex-running back who was nicknamed “The Juice” during his NFL career was acquitted of the charges in 1995. In 1997, he was found liable for the wrongful deaths of Brown and Goldman in a civil lawsuit, which resulted in a jury ordering him to pay the families $33.5 million in damages.

Simpson died in April 2024 after battling prostate cancer. He was 76.

As for Blake, he was charged with murder in April 2002 after his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was shot to death outside a Los Angeles-based restaurant in 2001.

Blake was acquitted in 2005 and found liable for her death in a civil lawsuit later that year. Blake died aged 89 in March 2023 after a battle with heart disease.

While speaking out about the bit, LaVergne also reminded viewers about former SNL star Alec Baldwin, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western movie Rust in October 2021.

Baldwin denied pulling the trigger and a judge dismissed the case against him in 2024.

LaVergne teased that anyone who hosts SNL can “get away with homicide.”

It’s only been a few weeks since Simpson’s estate took legal action against Justin Simpson, son of O.J., over the status of his Las Vegas house, per docs filed on January 6.

Justin’s company, Primary Holdings, did purchase the property in 2022 for $795,000. However, according to the docs, Simpson was “intended to be the de facto owner of the Arbour Garden Property, and that Primary Holdings was the owner in name only.”

The lawsuit alleged that Justin, 36, purchased the property as a means to help shield his father from creditors going after his house for debt owed to the IRS and the families of Brown and Goldman.

The estate now wants either payment from Justin or for him to sign over ownership.

“Either Justin writes me a check for what was put down for the property and the increase in the value, the equity of it, which is probably now roughly about a quarter of a million dollars,” LaVergne told the Las Vegas Review-Journal before offering another option, adding, “or he can title the property to me and let me figure out what to do with the property.”