June 20, 2024: Simpson Trial Figures: Kato and Kardashian

[On June 17^th, 1994, O.J. Simpson was arrested by the LAPD. The subsequent trial featured a number of individuals whose stories have a great deal to tell us about America, then, now, and overall, so this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of Simpson trial figures. Leading up to a special weekend post from one of my favorite young AmericanStudiers!]

On how the trial shaped two forms of celebrity culture, and an important alternative.

The OJ trial was such a media circus (to the point that the very phrase “media circus” has become almost synonymous with these events) that it not only featured a celebrity client and celebrity defense attorney (both of which I wrote about in yesterday’s post), but also spawned a number of additional celebrities. There’s plenty of competition for which was the nuttiest—a list that includes the judge, for crying out loud—but I would have to declare OJ’s vagabond houseguest Kato Kaelin as the winner of that bizarre contest. I don’t know if Kato was the first person in American history to become and remain famous for being famous, with absolutely no discernible talents or achievements beyond the fame itself. But he most definitely exemplified that trend at a still-early period in its development—and given the ways in which over the subsequent three decades the genre of reality TV has created an entire cottage industry dedicated to producing countless more such famous-for-being-famous individuals and communities, it’s fair to say that no legacy of the OJ trial was more culturally significant than that of Kato Kaelin’s bizarre yet inarguable celebrity status.

I don’t think any 21^st century individuals better exemplify that famous-for-being-famous trend than do the Kardashians, and it’s thus far from a coincidence that that family’s rise to fame likewise began with the OJ trial. Entrepreneur and attorney Robert Kardashian wasn’t just a longtime friend of OJ Simpson’s who became part of his defense team; he was also a thoroughly private citizen who through those contexts and events became one of that moment’s most public and famous figures. Or, more exactly and even more tellingly, whose own fleeting such fame in 1994-5 helped open the door for multi-generational familial fame over the subsequent decades, for his ex-wife Kris Houghton (formerly Kardashian) (now Jenner) and their four children (Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian) to become one of the 21^st century’s most wealthy and influential media empires (I wish that felt more like hyperbole than it does). Individual fame like Kato Kaelin’s is striking but relatively powerless; Kardashian-level fame brings with it a great deal of 21^st century power.

That final hyperlink is to Kim Kardashian’s podcast The System, which highlights the case of a wrongfully-accused and -incarcerated individual (Kevin Keith) in an effort to change the criminal justice system more broadly. When it comes to this week’s blog subject, obviously there are complicated OJ trial echoes around the phrase “wrongfully accused,” although I genuinely don’t imagine Kim is making that connection. But I would also highlight one of the more striking individual scenes from The People v. O.J. Simpson, depicting Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer) at a Father’s Day brunch with his four kids. Kardashian’s fame is on the rise and his kids are excited, but he instructs them that “in this family, being a good person and a loyal friend is more important than being famous. Fame is fleeting, it’s hollow. It means nothing at all without a virtuous heart.” Of course the moment (a fictional one created by the show’s writers) feels deeply ironic given what would go to happen to those four kids. But I would argue that Kim’s podcast reflects the continued presence of this alternative possibility, for this family and for all of us—not one that opposes fame or celebrity per se (they will always be part of our society), but one in which meaningful actions remain more important than fame.

Last figure tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Simpson trial figures or stories you’d highlight?