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Recently, on June 12, 1994, O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson was stabbed to death in the stony Los Angeles enclave of Brentwood, California, along with 25-year-old waiter Ronald Goldman. I’ve never heard much about Brentwood, which sits just west of Beverly Hills—except in the Alex Cox film Repo Man, where a character says, “John Wayne was a fag… I installed two-way mirrors in his pad in Brentwood.” It sounds like a crazy, ritzy place where the moneyed stars of the silver screen cross paths with allegedly murderous aging gridiron greats.
Anyway, O.J. Simpson was arrested shortly thereafter and has been in custody ever since, and he’s on trial right now. There’s little doubt he will totally be found guilty and all’s well that ends well, even though this trial has turned our news cycle into a 24-hour event, made us see Larry King’s wizened mug more frequently than we’d prefer (how long can this man go on?), and, lastly, brought up unsettling national conversations about race not heard since Rodney King was beaten by the LAPD just three short years ago.
We were lucky enough to score a midtrial interview with a star witness of the case, shaggy-haired blond beach bum/actor Kato Kaelin, who first lived for a year in a guesthouse at Nicole’s, then spent the six months prior to the murder living at O.J.’s. He’s been skewered for not paying rent. He’s been described as vacant and rambling on the witness stand. As for parlaying this exposure into more acting gigs, a casting director told the Los Angeles Times: “He’s got a good look, but he doesn’t project stability.” Still, we kind of like the guy.
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Kato Kaelin: You did commercials in the 1980s, right?
Beach Fever And as the 1980s were unfolding, you also got married and had a kid? No one talks about that.
mistaaaaaake Maybe it was your pure midwestern youth. You grew up near Milwaukee and then went to a university in a small city in Wisconsin. When and why would you leave placid Eau Claire, Wisconsin?
But I heard you moved to California thinking you might play baseball?
No What were the circumstances that led you to meeting O.J. Simpson?
General Hospital Ed—That would be So, a typical day in your life pre-June 12 wasn’t spent sponging off O.J. or hanging out with him all day?
Did you guys have any heart-to-heart chats in those six months, or did your relationship stay superficial?
What was a night out like for you before the murder?
LA antics. Is O.J. sort of rudderless?
Did he charge you rent?
On the night of the murder, you tagged along with O.J. to McDonald’s… you couldn’t get him to go to In-N-Out or anything?
Photo from AP
How close together were the houses?When you lived with O.J. would you still hang out with Nicole?
Did you find a new place to live after the murders?
Do you get stalked?
Like fistfight?
Talk Radio A reality television show?
The Phil Spector part sounds cool. He seems pretty low-key. Any groupies?
Do you take advantage of that?
Do you think your opinion of O.J.’s guilt or innocence may change from what it is today?
Since you know the guy, you kind of don’t want to have that opinion right now?
It must be strange even suspecting that someone you were sort of close to is capable of something like this.
Growing up in Wisconsin, with the exception of Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer, you didn’t know people like this.
What do you see yourself doing in the future?
The 16th Minute And as the years roll on, what perspective do you think you might get on the trial? What’s one thing you think will stick out to you?
That’s fair enough, thanks.
