O.J. DEAD! BUT IS AMERICA'S VENOM STILL ALIVE?

O.J. Simpson — who became one of the most infamous figures in the US during his murder trial in the ’90s — has died after a cancer battle.

The former NFL star died Wednesday in Las Vegas, his family confirmed. He was 76.

“On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer,” the family wrote on X on Thursday.

“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace,” the brief statement added.

Simpson’s murder trial after the death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, captivated the nation in the ’90s.

Simpson won the Heisman Trophy as a star running back for the University of Southern California Trojans.

The running back had been receiving treatment in Sin City after a prostate cancer diagnosis.

Simpson is survived by four of his children from his two marriages – including the two youngest, Sydney and Justin, that he shared with Brown.

One of Simpson’s sons from his first marriage drowned in 1979.

Simpson played 10 years in the NFL, after which he parlayed his MVP status into an acting career.

While his star continued to rise, however, Simpson’s home life was far from cheerful: After divorcing his first wife in 1979, he married waitress Nicole Brown, who later accused him of vicious spousal abuse that included verbal taunts and physical beatings.

The couple divorced in 1992. Two years later, on June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown and her friend, Ron Goldman, were found stabbed to death outside her Brentwood home.

Simpson was arrested for the killings a few days later following a slow-speed car chase in his white Ford Bronco.

Simpson’s murder trial the following year was a tabloid and media sensation, as the former football star’s “Dream Team” of high-profile lawyers tried to refute a seemingly damning stack of evidence.

In addition to courtroom bulldogs Robert Shapiro and Johnny Cochran, the “Dream Team” included Robert Kardashian – whose daughter, Kim, later parlayed her own sex tape infamy into a reality television empire.

The case was a humiliating loss for prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, who were expected to net a conviction for the struggling Los Angeles DA’s office.

Despite avoiding criminal charges, Simpson was ordered to pay the families of Brown and Goldman over $33 million in civil proceedings for wrongful death and battery.

Simpson’s Heisman Trophy was auctioned off to drum up cash, PEOPLE reported at the time.

The award and other belongings raked in almost $500,000, which went to the Goldman family, the outlet said.

Just two months before his death, Simpson was pictured looking frail but assured the public he was in good health in a brief social media video.

The 6’1” former athlete was also sparked health concerns when he was seen limping while out in Las Vegas in November.

Simpson struggled in the years following his acquittal. In addition to auctioning off the spoils of his previous careers, he struggled to pay taxes and defaulted on the mortgage on his longtime home.

His attempts to make money off of books and TV interviews surrounding the murders were also squashed in court following outcry from the victims’ families.

Goldman’s family famously won the rights to Simpson’s manuscript about the case, which was titled “If I Did It.”

“It helped me get out of debt and secure my homestead,” Simpson told the Associated Press at the time $880,000 advance he got for the book.

“It’s all blood money, and unfortunately I had to join the jackals,” he added.

When the book hit shelves, the Goldmans retitled it “If I Did It: Confessions of a Killer” and put the “if” in a very small font.

Simpson was also arrested multiple times, including in connection with an armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2007.

Simpson spent nine years behind bars on armed robbery and other felony charges, though he insisted that the video-taped confrontation was simply him trying to retrieve memorabilia that was rightfully his.

Simpson’s parole ended in 2021. In recent years, he made occasional appearances on social media – including a bizarre video he shared last year about convicted wife killer Alex Murdaugh.