OPRAH WINFREY - WINFREY BOYCOTTS SIMPSON BOOK

WINFREY BOYCOTTS SIMPSON BOOK

OPRAH WINFREY refuses to purchase a copy of O.J. SIMPSON's controversial new book IF I DID IT, branding the fictional account of how the sports star-turned-actor killed his wife and her friend "despicable". The media mogul made the admission during an interview with the family of murder victim Ron Goldman - who lost his life alongside Simpson's wife Nicole - on Thursday (13Sep07). Goldman's father Fred and sister Kim were awarded the publishing rights to the book by a federal judge in Florida in July (07) after campaigning to stop Simpson releasing the tome last year (06). They claimed Simpson should never benefit financially from the sales of the controversial book. But Winfrey was critical of the family's decision to make money from the book they fought so hard to keep off book shelves 12 months ago. She said, "I don't want to be in the position to promote this book because I, too, think it's despicable... I'm all for it being published, but I personally wouldn't want to be in a position to encourage people to buy this book." In defence of his decision to release the much-hyped book, Fred Goldman told the talk show host the book wasn't the "manual for murder" he feared it would be. He explained, "After reading the book, (we) learned it was not a manual for murder. Absolutely not. We view it as a confession. "This isn't an innocent man writing a book like this. An innocent man doesn't write a book of how, hypothetically, he would decapitate the mother of his children." The Goldmans stand to receive 90 per cent of the profits from the book, in which Simpson hypothetically places himself at the scene of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown and Goldman in 1994. After Simpson was acquitted of the murders, the Goldman family filed a civil action against the star - and won a massive cash settlement they are still chasing. Fred Goldman claims the money he and his family make from the book sales will go towards meeting the settlement they were awarded in court. He added, "We have a judgment, the only form of justice that we were able to attain through the civil court. And that piece of paper is meaningless unless we pursue that judgment. "We took away the opportunity from him to earn additional money, and that money is the only form of justice."