'If I Did It': O.J. Holds Forth on Paris Hilton Coverage.

It's official. Every county has now been heard from on the matter on how the media has covered the Paris Hilton case. Everyone thank Editor and Publisher, who caught up with football legend/glove enthusiast Orenthal James Simpson, and elicited his opinion on the matter. It's a fitting choice, seeing as it is almost precisely twelve years ago that O.J. himself gave birth to the post-modern, helicopter-borne media frenzy by climbing into that Ford Bronco. Give Hilton credit--at least she didn't pre-empt the NBA Finals.

For Simpson, the media frenzy over Hilton has had a personal impact: "He cited a recent request from a Miami journalist for a comment after the Louisville incident [where O.J. was asked to leave a restaurant during the Kentucky Derby], when he supposedly told the reporter, 'If you can tell me how many people died in Fallujah in Iraq yesterday, I will talk to you. He couldn't.'"

That's right, folks. On any given day, O.J. Simpson knows precisely how many people died in Fallujah. But just ask him to give you the names of their "real killers!" Sheesh!

Still, it wasn't all about how the Hilton saga dovetailed with his personal life. Simpson waxed critically about the overall state of the media today:

"When Paris Hilton was going to jail last week more people knew about that than knew that we were sending people into space that day. It has replaced what is real news. There was always a place for it, but it was [gossip writer] Rona Barrett. Now it is the equivalent of Edward R. Murrow reporting it today."

So there you have it. Good night, and good grief!

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