{"id":32893,"date":"2024-04-12T13:15:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T20:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=32893"},"modified":"2024-04-12T13:15:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T20:15:39","slug":"fyi-oj-simpsons-father-was-an-out-sf-drag-queen-known-as-mama-simpson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/12\/fyi-oj-simpsons-father-was-an-out-sf-drag-queen-known-as-mama-simpson\/","title":{"rendered":"FYI: OJ Simpson\u2019s Father Was an Out SF Drag Queen Known as \u2018Mama Simpson\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photo from SFist.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11 APRIL 2024\/SF NEWS<\/a>\/JOE KUKURA<\/a> (SFist.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As many are remembering the complicated (mostly terrible) legacy of the late OJ Simpson today, we look back on his father, who came out as LGBTQ and was apparently a known San Francisco drag queen called \u201cMama Simpson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of today\u2019s obituaries for OJ Simpson<\/a> note the football star-turned-murder suspect\u2019s San Francisco roots. Simpson was born in SF, raised in Potrero Hill, attended Galileo High School, and played one year of college football at SF City College before transferring to USC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s another curious detail about Simpson’s SF youth. His father, who came out as gay and was largely absent from the family once Simpson turned four years old, would become a local drag queen known as \u201cMama Simpson.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is admittedly little information about the life of OJ’s father, Jimmy Lee Simpson, who died of HIV\/AIDS in 1986. But the few accounts there are have consistency across them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see reference in the 2015 book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson <\/em>by Jeffrey Toobin (yes, that Jeffrey Toobin<\/a>) that Jimmy Lee Simpson was a gay man. \u201cHis father was an intermittent presence in [OJ\u2019s] life,\u201d Toobin writes<\/a>. \u201cIn later life, he came out as homosexual. He died of AIDS in 1985.\u201d Though a Jet<\/em> report from the time<\/a> lists Jimmy Lee Simpson as dying in 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OJ Simpson harbored ill feelings about his father\u2019s leaving the family. \u201cI resented his absence, especially when I became a teen-ager and was trying to find out who I was,” he said in a 1977 Parents<\/em> magazine interview<\/a>. “I really needed a man around then for guidance. I get along with my father now, but it’s taken years for me to come to terms with my feelings.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESPN\u2019s Academy Award-winning documentary O.J.: Made in America <\/em>interviewed one of OJ\u2019s childhood friends, Calvin Tennyson, who recalled a visit he and OJ made to Jimmy Lee Simpson\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAnd when his dad opened the door, he was in a bathrobe, which is not a crime. But then his dad kind of opened the door more, and there was a guy in the back in a bathrobe too. So it was obvious that his dad was gay.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cBack in our day that was the worst thing in the world that you could ever think about. An African-American man being a homosexual.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

George Carpozi\u2019s 1995 book called The Lies of OJ Simpson<\/em><\/a> dug deeper into Jimmy Lee Simpson\u2019s SF drag activity, albeit from an unnamed interview source, who said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cMama Simpson, as he was known to me, used to hang around the hotel where I lived and was frequently dressed in drag. Everyone knew he was O.J.\u2019s dad. He got to be known as Mama Simpson because he favored young, butch white kids as boyfriends.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeaveHeardAlone\/status\/1640559504415764481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1640559504415764481%7Ctwgr%5E13ef6a0ff09aa336cbc28a9909e0916bb745c23b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsfist.com%2F2024%2F04%2F11%2Foj-simpsons-father-was-reportedly-an-out-sf-drag-queen-known-as-mama-simpson%2F<\/p>\n\n\n\n


There is reason to connect OJ Simpson\u2019s demonstrated physical abuse of late wife Nicole Brown Simpson (whom he was accused of killing in that celebrated murder trial<\/a>) with homophobia.  Prosecutors cited one of her diary entries which read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cHawaii \u2014 gay man kissed [their son] Justin. O.J. threw me against walls in our hotel and on the floor. Put bruises on my arms and back. The window scarred me \u2014 thought he\u2019d throw me out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


It also seems OJ and Jimmy Lee reconciled later in life, and Jimmy Lee Simpson did attend his son\u2019s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 1985. And as seen below, OJ Simpson appeared to wholly support Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib coming out of the closet in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Much Respect Carl Nassib pic.twitter.com\/Meto07q4gz<\/a><\/p>— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) June 22, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>