Search »

Fox Affiliates Refuse to Air O.J. Simpson Interview

Several of Fox’s affiliates have said they will not air the network’s controversial, two-part interview with O.J. Simpson next week.

Pappas Telecasting Companies, which owns four Fox affiliate stations in California, Iowa and Nebraska, told Fox that its stations would not broadcast O.J. Simpson’s two-part interview, while Lin Broadcasting, which owns five Fox affiliate stations, will also not show the program, writes Media Life.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns WUTV in Buffalo and 18 other affiliates, is still “gathering information” on whether to air the interview and will make a final decision later this week, according to a spokesman.

Buffalo’s WUTV, the city in which Simpson played most of his pro football career, has received angry phone calls and email messages since the announced interview.

The interviews have been scheduled for Nov. 27 and 29, to coincide with the Nov. 30 release of Simpson’s book, If I Did It. The book, according to publisher Judith Regan, is essentially a confession to the sensational murders of Simpson’s wife and her friend, for which Simpson was acquitted in 1994.The response from affiliates mirrors some unusual internal backlash at Fox, according to the article. Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox News’s The O’Reilly Factor, said last week that Fox’s decision to air the program is “simply indefensible,” and added that not only would he not watch the show or look at the book, but that he also would not buy anything from any company that sponsors the TV program.