Cuba Gooding Jr. Talks New OJ Simpson Role

Cuba Gooding Jr. Wishes Goldman/Brown Families Peace

Don’t know about y’all but we are kinda hype to see The People v. O.J. Simpson when it premieres Tuesday — but we didn’t realize creators of the mini-series never reached out to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman until reading about how they have publicly expressed being uncomfortable about not being included in the making of the show.

Apparently Cuba Gooding Jr. has heard those concerns and is doing his part to assure the project he signed on to star in maintains a high level of integrity.

Via E!Online reports:

“I just hope that they find some peace because I can’t imagine what they’re going through,” he says when asked if there’s anything he’d like to tell the families. “You know, when I signed on to this project, it was because Ryan Murphy was doing it and I want to work with real filmmakers and that first and foremost was my reasoning for accepting this role. Prior to this offering, I had an offer to do a film based on O.J.’s innocence and I passed. So, here I am. So, I don’t pretend to try to understand what any of this means to either the Goldmans or the Browns, but I’m an actor. I was asked to do a role. Hopefully I brought some truth to it and that will help in the process of understanding the circus that was this time in America.”

He adds that the goal was to use their considerable talents to faithfully present the lives of those caught up in the media circus surrounding the case to this new generation. “I want people to know that we had the best intentions to bring our artistry to the lives and the events surrounding that trial and the personalities that were surrounding it as well,” Gooding says.

It turns out the series used Jeffrey Toobin’s book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson as the series’ main source material, which is why the family wasn’t contacted by Ryan Murphy and his team.

The People v. O.J. Simpson premieres Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 10 p.m. on FX.

Hit the flip for more photos from the premiere

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