Erin Aubry Kaplan: The O.J.-Kramer discrepancy

[XemaSab]

WELL, THAT was a close one.

After pulling back from the brink via the midterm elections, Americans seem to be in the mood for more accountability. On Monday, media magnate Rupert Murdoch announced that he was dropping "If I Did It," the coyly titled, thoroughly tasteless television-and-book project starring O.J. Simpson and masterminded by News Corp. that was set to debut next week.

The project caused a reignition of the outrage about the Simpson verdict that's been simmering for the last decade and fueled rebellion not only among the public but among Murdoch's own ranks, including Bill O'Reilly. Even O.J. neutralists like me — to this day, I'm not sure whether he did it — had to concede that the former football star belongs in some ethical netherworld occupied by other tragically deluded celebrities such as Phil Spector and Michael Jackson.

Of course, the O.J. indignation is driven in large part by racial indignation: the idea that a black man may have killed a white woman and gotten away with it. That's a violation of decorum and social law that white America cannot tolerate, whatever the findings of a court — and that fact sealed O.J.'s fate long before the announcement and subsequent disappearance of "If I Did It."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kaplan22nov22,0,2511446.column?coll=la-home-commentary