Following mounting criticism, News Corporation has canceled the publication of a controversial book and accompanying television programme If I Did It in which O.J. Simpson speaks in hypothetical terms about how he would have committed the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.
"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."
A dozen Fox affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part special, planned for next week before the publication of the book by ReganBooks. The publishing house is a HarperCollins imprint owned - like the Fox network - by News Corp.
Relatives of the victims had condemned the publication and broadcast plans.
"He destroyed my son and took from my family Ron's future and life. And for that I'll hate him always and find him despicable," Fred Goldman told ABC last week.
The industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cablepublished an editorial against the show today, saying "Fox should cancel this evil sweeps stunt."
One of the nation's largest superstore chains, Borders Group Inc., said last week it would donate any profits on the book to charity.
Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murder in a case that became its own TV drama. The former football star and announcer was later found liable for the deaths in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Goldman family.
Judith Regan, publisher of If I Did It, said she considered the book to be Simpson's confession.