O.J. Simpson's book deal and TV special canceled

Now we'll never know how O.J. Simpson would have (wink, wink) killed his wife Nicole and her friend, Ron Goldman. News Corp., which owns HarperCollins and Fox, has decided to cancel Simpson's book and television program, "If I Did It."

"If I Did It," both the book and TV special, centers around Simpson's discussion of how he would have killed Nicole and Ron. The decision to stop the book's publication and cancel the special came after several Fox affiliates decided they would not air the special. Ron and Nicole's families also spoke out against the project. Last week Fred Goldman said, "[O.J.] destroyed my son and took from my family Ron's future and life. And for that I'll hate him always and find him despicable."

Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., said, "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

Judith Regan of Regan Books - the company that intended to publish Simpson's book - defended her decision last week. She said in a statement, "I made the decision to publish this book, and to sit face to face with the killer, because I wanted him, and the men who broke my heart and your hearts, to tell the truth, to confess their sins, to do penance and to amend their lives…To publish does not mean 'to endorse'; it means 'to make public…If you doubt that, ask the mainstream publishers who keep Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' in print to this day…There is historical value in such work…for anyone who wants to gain insight into the mind of a sociopath."