O.J. Simpson double-homicide prosecutor Christopher Darden didn’t watch FX’s “American Crime Story,” but that doesn’t mean he lacks a strong opinion about the anthology show’s first season.
“I lived through it, I knew the series would not be accurate,” he told “Today” show’s Savannah Guthrie on Monday.
The two then got down to brass tax, like the so-called Trial of the Century’s underlying racial issues, the glove that didn’t fit and, of course, Darden’s alleged budding romance with boss Marcia Clark that was portrayed in the series.
“I’ll wait until Marcia is sitting next to me … to talk about it in greater detail,” he told Guthrie. “But, you know, people want that. People want a happy ending to what was otherwise a terrible ending.”
While Darden mostly avoided the highly personal topic, he added the following:
“Look at it from my position as a lawyer, and people looking back at the trial. If I were to say that I had a relationship with Marcia Clark, people would say we lost the case because we were more interested in intimacy than in the law and the facts — and that’d be an even worse position to be in.”
“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” depicted Darden (Sterling K. Brown) and Clark (Sarah Paulson) as co-workers who became friends — and maybe more. The will they/won’t they was a hot plot line, though the Ryan Murphy series never really made a definitive statement about how far the relationship went.
'People v OJ Simpson': 7 More Stunning Facts It Left Out (Photos)
If you think "The People v. O.J. Simpson" shed light on some surprising details of the case, wait until you see all the show left out. We've found more stunning facts since our last gallery on the subject.
Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson's sister, testified that Simpson called his wife "a fat pig" while she was pregnant. Judge Lance Ito later advised jurors to ignore the dream testimon
Another Tragedy
Christopher Darden (played by Sterling K. Brown) suffered an even greater personal crisis than we saw on "The People v. O.J. Simpson": His brother, a former drug addict, was dying of AIDS. "Every hour in court was time that could have been spent with him," Toobin wrote.
OJ's Father
Darden wasn't the only one whose family was struck by the AIDS virus. Toobin writes that Simpson's father came out as gay later in life, and died of AIDS in 1985.
The Black Power Connection
Darden was very familiar with the black power fist held up by a juror, Toobin writes. Darden ran track at San Jose State in the 1970s, and San Jose State student athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos had famously held up the salute at the 1968 Olympic Summer Games in Mexico City.
A Harsh Allegation
"The People v. O.J. Simpson" showed us many of the insults the jurors suffered, but not this one: There were complaints about "the alleged foot odor" of one juror, according to Jeffrey Toobin's "The Run of His Life."
Put Down the Phone
Bizarrely, Darden called into Geraldo Rivera's talk show during the early part of the trial to criticize the performance of Det. Tom Lange -- a witness for the prosecution. Darden's move did not make fellow prosecutors, or cops, very happy, and he stopped making such appearances.
THE AFTERPARTY
The post-verdict party at Simpson's house was even more sedate than the one portrayed on "The People v. O.J. Simpson." Writes Toobin: "Those guests who did come gathered around a piano and sang hymns. Simpson mostly stayed in his bedroom, receiving guests in small groups."
The show could have included many more sad, strange and simply bizarre details than it did
If you think "The People v. O.J. Simpson" shed light on some surprising details of the case, wait until you see all the show left out. We've found more stunning facts since our last gallery on the subject.
