During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Saturday Night Live alum Laraine Newman made a surprising revelation about the late OJ Simpson.
While participating in a segment called “Work the Polls” alongside fellow SNL veterans Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, Cecily Strong,
and Rachel Dratch, Newman was asked about athletes who have hosted the long-running NBC sketch comedy show.
Host Andy Cohen steered the conversation toward Simpson’s time as an SNL host, prompting Newman to recall her own experience working with the former NFL player.
When asked if anyone in the group had been on the show when Simpson hosted, Newman raised her hand.
Cohen then followed up by asking if Simpson had been a good host, to which Newman responded with an unexpected comment: “And a good kisser.”
Newman, 72, recounted a specific moment from Simpson’s SNL episode, which aired during Season 3 in February 1978. She explained that the two had shared an on-screen kiss during a parody sketch of Mandingo, a controversial 1975 film. “We did a parody of a movie that is so horrifyingly objectionable, Mandingo,” Newman recalled, referencing the racially charged film that centered around slavery in the American South.
Simpson, who was at the height of his football career at the time, was known not only for his athleticism but also for his burgeoning entertainment career. His episode of SNL aired while he was still actively playing in the NFL, solidifying his status as a major crossover star in the world of sports and entertainment.
Newman’s comments quickly gained traction online, with fans and media outlets buzzing about her lighthearted remark regarding Simpson. Given the former football star’s highly controversial history, including his 1995 acquittal in the murder trial of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, reactions to Newman’s recollection were mixed.
Simpson’s legacy remains complex. While he was once a celebrated athlete and entertainer, his legal troubles and subsequent conviction in 2008 for armed robbery and kidnapping altered public perception. He passed away in 2024 at the age of 76, leaving behind a deeply polarizing legacy.
Newman, best known for her work as an original SNL cast member from 1975 to 1980, has continued to make appearances in television and film. Her candid storytelling on Watch What Happens Live offered a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into Simpson’s time as a host on SNL, a moment now being revisited in a different light.
As the discussion around Simpson’s legacy continues, Newman’s recollection serves as a reminder of his once-untarnished status in Hollywood before his infamous fall from grace. Though her comment about him being a “good kisser” was made in jest, it inevitably reignites conversations about the different facets of Simpson’s life, from sports stardom to scandal.
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