OJ Simpson shared a photo of him receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, and encouraging others to get it when their time comes, causing consternation among some Twitter users.
The former football star and ex-convict wore a face mask with his nickname “The Juice” printed across the front as he was injected with the vaccine at a distribution site in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The caption read: “Get your shot. I got mine!!!”
Some followers felt outraged that the 73-year-old was inoculated against the coronavirus ahead of others because of his criminal past, despite his advanced age.
Simpson’s fame as a Hall of Fame professional football player, where he earned him his nickname, was eclipsed by his time as a murder suspect following the brutal killing of his wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.
After a rollercoaster televised trial and his subsequent acquittal, Simpson was pursued through the courts by Mr Goldman’s family who brought a civil case against him that they won.
In 2008 Simpson was jailed for a different crime — his role in an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel involving a dispute over ownership of his memorabilia.
He was sentenced to 33 years in prison, but released in 2017 after serving nine years.
His notoriety pursues him to this day, with Twitter users sharing memes relating to the infamous murder trial and questioning “how the murderer get the vaccine before the rest of us?”
Some posts referenced the moment in the murder trial when Simpson tried on the gloves used in the killing of Ms Brown and Mr Goldman showing that they did not fit him.
In one post they were replaced by the mittens worn by Bernie Sanders at the inauguration, in another the user zoomed in on the practitioner’s hands showing her ill-fitting surgical gloves: “One again. The glove don’t fit.”
The Daily Show Comedian Travon Free wrote: “Who had ‘OJ Simpson being stabbed by a white woman’ on their 2021 bingo card?”
One person tweeted: “I just saw OJ Simpson was trending but for all the wrong reasons. Apparently keeping him alive is more important than keeping me alive.”
As a Nevada resident aged over 65, Simpson is eligible for the vaccine under state guidelines.
