LA Times Comes Under Scrutiny After Mistakenly Using Trump's Name Instead of OJ Simpson in Obituary

As word of OJ Simpson's unexpected death spread, a prominent publication came under fire for mistaking the controversial former athlete for former President Donald Trump. When recounting how Simpson was freed from a Nevada jail following his conviction for armed robbery and abduction in the athlete's obituary, The Los Angeles Times misidentified him as Trump—an error that has now been rectified.

"Long before the city woke up on a fall morning in 2017, Trump walked out of Lovelock Correctional Center a free man for the first time in nine years," the newspaper wrote in its obituary for Simpson, RadarOnline reported. "He didn’t go far, moving into a 5,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas with a Bentley in the driveway."

The Times swiftly corrected the humiliating blunder and even added an editor's note, saying, "An earlier version of this obituary used the wrong name when describing Simpson leaving Lovelock Correctional Center. The error has been corrected." But the harm had already been done, as many people claimed on social media that the LA Times was only looking for a chance to criticize Trump. Editor of the California Globe Katy Grimes responded to the LA Times' blunder by commenting on it on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “Members of the media are just itching to write stories about Trump being found guilty and going to prison.”

Republican strategist Steve Guest described the error as “unbelievable” and stated, “The LA Times is out of control.” Jake Schneider, the GOP director of rapid research, commented, “And I bet they still won’t understand why trust in media is at an all-time low.” Grabien's founder, Tom Elliott, also chimed in, suggesting, "Someone needs to talk to their shrink.” Joe Concha, a Fox News contributor, slammed the error, “I mean... there's no shot this wasn't intentional.”

A user tried to allege that the error was deliberate. A user slammed on X, "This was NOT a mistake. Employees of the @latimes have frequently mentioned jailing Trump. And if this was a mistake, what does it say about a paper that can't even write an obituary without making a false statement?"

Political analyst Zack Stanton tweeted the error, which has been viewed over 600,000 times, and many suggested that the error might have not been deliberate, and found humor in the suggestion that the presumptive GOP nominee might go to jail. "Freudian slip," a person wrote on X, suggesting the writer may have subconsciously wanted Trump to land in jail. "A slip from an alternative universe? Let's all manifest it to make it happen," another person wrote on X. "Hilarious and ... Kinda random?" a user wrote on X.

"An appropriate error," another user chimed in on X. "To be fair, a lot of newspapers have pre-written obits for celebs and I'm guessing they know they're not gonna have to do much but change names, crimes, and titles for these two so they have a template," a user wrote on X, explaining what might have caused the error.