Goldmans to Oprah: Why They Did It

There's nothing like a pit stop on The Oprah Winfrey Show to bump a book to the top of the bestseller list. Not that the author of today's highlighted tome should hold out for a place on Oprah's Book Club—or her couch.

The continuing controversy over If I Did It, O.J. Simpson's hypothetical memoir, made its way onto Winfrey's show Thursday, with all the major players—minus one big one—taking to the airwaves to discuss their feelings on the book.

The rights to the book, also released Thursday, passed from Simpson to the family of the late Ron Goldman following a bankruptcy judge's ruling. The family continues to attempt to collect more than $30 million owed them from the wrongful-death judgment against Simpson.

Appearing on the show were Fred and Kim Goldman, Ron's father and sister, and Denise Brown, sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, who spoke with Winfrey only on the condition she not share a stage with the Goldmans, in protest against the book's publication.

For his part, Fred Goldman said he too was initially disgusted by the notion of the book, but that he quickly came to see the benefit of its release.

"I didn't want to see [Simpson] profit one penny from butchering Ron, murdering Nicole. I perceived potentially as well that it could have been what has been called a 'manual for murder,' " he said of his initial reaction to the book.

"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."

Kim Goldman agreed, saying the whole family read the book and "felt very strongly that this is his way of sort of setting the record straight. He speaks publicly about the fact that he hates people speaking on his own behalf and he wanted an opportunity to tell it his way."

Telling it his way also paves the way for a potential windfall for the Goldmans—before Thursday, the book was among the top preorders at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The Goldmans stand to receive 90 percent of the profits, amounting to 17 cents per sale. They defended the decision to approve the publication, claiming it was the only legitimate avenue left in which they could pursue restitution.

"We have a judgment, the only form of justice that we were able to attain through the civil court," Fred Goldman said, denying the profits are tantamount to blood money. "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."

It's a form of justice that Winfrey, who said she will not read the book, is loath to enable.

"I am not pretending that this forum, this television show, doesn't sell books," Winfrey said. "That's what we do, you know? We promote people's books. 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."

Kim Goldman, however, defended her family's decision to go ahead and release the book, claiming that if they didn't, the manuscript's rights could eventually have defaulted back to Simpson, allowing him to profit from his ghostwritten tell-all.

"We snatched it right out from under him," she said. "After 11 years, this is our first victory."

As for Denise Brown, neither she nor any member of her family is playing a part in the book's release, even though the bankruptcy judge ruled the Browns could collect 10 percent of the profits.

"The Brown family gets nothing from this," she said, adding that she believed her slain sister would be "horrified" at the book's publication. "We don't want anything. It's blood money. This is horrible. It's written by the man that...I believe murdered my sister, that I believe murdered Ron."

Brown said her decision not to appear onstage with the Goldmans boiled down to morality.

"I truly believe that they did wrong, that they did me wrong this time. Everybody stood up and said no to the publication of this book. I stood my ground on that. I still don't think it should be published. I think it is a morally wrong thing to do."

Unfortunately for Brown, many of the nation's booksellers seem to have sided with the Goldmans.

Just 10 days after announcing it would not stock the ultragraphic faux memoir, Barnes & Noble reversed its decision last month, saying it would indeed sell, though not promote, If I Did It in its stores due to nationwide customer demand.

"We've been monitoring the preorders and customer requests and have concluded that enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores," chain spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said at the time. "We do not intend to promote the book, but we will stock it in our stores because our customers are asking for it."

Originally scheduled to be released last November through HarperCollins' Regan imprint, the publication and corresponding TV special were scrapped in the wake of near universal outcry. The Goldmans published their revised version of If I Did It through the small Beaufort Books.