Relatives Of Murder Victim Ron Goldman Score Court Win
Today, the Goldman family won a court order seizing any money O.J. Simpson earns for lending his name and likeness to a football video game called All-Pro Football 2K8, which includes a fictional team called the Assassins and a knife-wielding mascot.
Why would O.J. lend his name and face to a team called "Assassins" with a knife-wielding mascot?
Is he winking at us in some macabre kind of way, or does he just not give a damn?
The Video-game publisher, Take-Two Interactive, (TTWO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) which has come under fire in the past for offensive content in its games, is now testing the taste barrier with All-Pro Football 2K8.
(A video clip on the Game Trailers Web site shows Simpson, after he scores a touchdown prompting a large hooded mascot (above) above the scoreboard to make stabbing motions with a large knife.) The legal victory was part of an effort by Goldman's estate to satisfy a $33.5 million judgment won against Simpson in a wrongful death suit brought against him in the 1994 stabbing deaths of Goldman and Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
Take-Two declined to reveal how much it has paid Simpson for the right to use his likeness in the game. But a video-game industry source estimates Take-Two could have paid Simpson anywhere between $50,000 and $125,000.