Posted in: TV | Tagged: cars, History Channel, HRL, oj simpson, pawn stars

OJ Simpson's White Getaway Bronco To Be Featured On Pawn Stars

Entertainment Weekly reports that a certain infamous car (which, ironically is very boring to look at when not on national television) will be returning to the medium that made it famous. That's right, OJ Simpson's White Bronco will be featured on the History Channel's Pawn Stars in an episode to be aired on August 14th. The car's current owner, Mike Gilbert, who used to be Simpson's agent, will try to pawn it off in the titular pawn shop of Rick Harrison.

If cultural osmosis has somehow missed you, this Ford Bronco became world-famous when Simpson's friend, AC Cowlings, made it into Simpson's getaway vehicle on July 17th, 1994, when Simpson was under investigation for the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. During much of the chase, Simpson was threatening to kill himself and claimed that he just wanted to see his mother.

Meanwhile, supporters of OJ swarmed around the highway to show their love of the former football star and actor. The police pursuing police were unsure of how to handle the situation given OJ's mental state at the time, and this prolonged the pursuit. This was aired on national television and drew 95 million viewers.

For far longer and much more in-depth version of the story, I do have to recommend Ezra Edelman's excellent documentary OJ: Made in America, which analyzes the OJ Simpson story as a piece of American history, American culture, and the history of race relations in the U.S and Los Angeles specifically. You can stream it on Hulu right now.

It doesn't take much for me to go on a moralistic tangent, and that's no different here. Yeah, this feels exploitative as hell. It feels a little sleazy, and it's a desperate attempt to see what mileage is left in this sordid history that can be vampirically sucked out by a subsidiary of A&E Networks. I don't even blame the Pawn Stars guys; History would flip out if Harrison or anyone else on the show turned down this ratings opportunity.

It all just feels a little gross. The chase what made this thing famous was already a low point for celebrity hero-worship and American culture in general. Do we really need to squeeze it out a little more to boost a reality show about a Las Vegas-located pawn shop?

Eh, whatever. Watch OJ: Made in America, that's the final message here. It's a fantastic, if lengthy, documentary and is well worth your time to watch, even if you don't have any investment in Simpson himself or his football career.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!