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      What Was O.J. Simpson’s Connection to the Kardashians?

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      Long before the Kardashians became a star attraction on reality television, the family name first came to prominence when Simpson, the former N.F.L. star, was on trial.There was no mention of O.J. Simpson on Kim Kardashian’s Instagram page on Thursday.Early that morning, she posted a video promoting a hoodie and bike shorts from Skims, the clothing company she co-founded. Later in the day, after the Simpson family announced that Mr. Simpson had died of cancer at age 76, Ms. Kardashian was silent on social media.Over the decades, her family had distanced itself from the man who played a significant role in propping up the Kardashian name.Kim’s father, Robert Kardashian, met Mr. Simpson through their ties to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Mr. Kardashian earned a business degree there in 1966, and Mr. Simpson was a star running back for the school in 1967 and 1968.The two became close in the 1970s, when Mr. Simpson was a standout in the National Football League and Mr. Kardashian was a rising lawyer and entrepreneur in Los Angeles. His businesses included entertainment properties and a frozen yogurt company.When Mr. Kardashian married the former Kris Houghton (now Kris Jenner) in 1978, Mr. Simpson served as his best man. The couple had four children — Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Robert Jr. The marriage ended in divorce in 1991. That same year, Ms. Jenner married the former Olympian who now goes by Caitlyn Jenner.Mr. Simpson met Nicole Brown in 1977, when he was still married to his first wife. During a separation from his wife, he lived for a time with Mr. Kardashian at his home, Mr. Simpson wrote in his 2007 book, “If I Did It.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How Hertz Turned O.J. Simpson Into the ‘Superstar in Rent‐a‐Car’

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      The famous ad campaign paid dividends for both the company and its pitchman, who died on Wednesday.Executives at the rental car company Hertz knew what they wanted to project to potential business travelers in the 1970s: speed, reliability and efficiency.They quickly realized that one man radiated all of those qualities. So they made the football player O.J. Simpson, who died on Wednesday at the age of 76, the first Black star of a national television advertising campaign.“They had a slogan — the Superstar in Rent‐a‐Car — and I was the current reigning superstar as far as the competition was concerned,” Simpson told The New York Times in 1976.The campaign would pay dividends for both the company and its pitchman, who in early Hertz ads was shown racing through an airport terminal and leaping over rope barriers, clutching a briefcase instead of cradling a football. In some of Simpson’s later ads, average Janes and Joes cheered him on as he ran, yelling, “Go, O.J., Go!”At that time, decades before Simpson was acquitted of killing his former wife and her friend, he was known for dazzling on the field for the University of Southern California and the Buffalo Bills. His athleticism and speed made Simpson the perfect choice for the Hertz commercials that widened his stardom beyond the gridiron, offering him up as a suave, smiling promoter known to football fans and businessmen alike.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why States Have Spent Billions Subsidizing Hollywood

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      Inside the costly competition to attract TV and film shoots. State governments use our tax dollars to build roads, fund schools and provide health care. In 38 states, they also ship money off to a high-gloss private industry: Hollywood.And it’s a lot of money. My colleague Christopher Kuo and I found that those states had given out more than $25 billion over the past two decades to subsidize the making of movies and television. The idea is to lure businesses to spend money, employ locals and stimulate the economy.The problem is, the programs are actually huge money losers for states. Studies show that these efforts typically return a quarter or even a dime on every dollar given to studios.Yet lawmakers are not slowing their spending. Quite the opposite. Hollywood is playing states off one another, and the competition has them sweetening their deals to lure productions, economists say. Under mounting pressure from New Jersey, New York recently expanded its film incentive program by 67 percent, to $700 million. Oklahoma went from $4 million to $30 million in just three years, in part to stay competitive with Texas. Then, Texas decided to spend nearly seven times that amount.“You could find almost an unlimited number of better uses for the same dollars,” said Michael Thom, a tax expert at the University of Southern California. “Who on earth would say, ‘Keep giving the money to Hollywood; my kid’s school doesn’t need new books’?”My colleagues and I wanted to understand why these programs persist. This morning, we published the third article in our series about the topic. Here’s a quick look at what we found.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sobhita Dhulipala of ‘Monkey Man’ Charts an Unusual Path to Hollywood

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      Sobhita Dhulipala considers herself an outsider — wherever she is.She grew up in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, making her an outsider in the country’s financial and fashion capital, Mumbai. Her native tongue is Telugu, making her an outsider in predominantly Hindi-speaking Bollywood.And now, with the release on Friday of the high-octane, Jordan Peele-produced “Monkey Man,” in which she stars alongside Dev Patel, she is again an outsider, thrust into Hollywood’s limelight. In fact, the premiere of the film at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, last month was the first time Ms. Dhulipala, 31, had ever set foot on American soil.“In India, I’m South Indian,” Ms. Dhulipala, who lives in Mumbai, said in a video interview from her hotel room in Los Angeles. “When I come to America, I’m Indian.”“It’s amazing that I get to come to this country with a film,” she added. “It’s like I come with an offering.”In the Amazon Prime series “Made in Heaven,” Ms. Dhulipala portrayed a social climber, navigating her way to ever higher rungs of Indian society.Amazon Prime Video IndiaThat real-life feeling of being an outsider is the undercurrent for many of her onscreen roles. In the Amazon Prime series “Made in Heaven,” Ms. Dhulipala’s character is a low-income nobody who schemes her way into upper-class circles. In “Monkey Man,” she plays Sita, a call girl whose business is the pleasure of powerful but despicable men.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Streaming in April

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      “Fallout,” “Girls State” and a “Bluey” special are streaming.Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for some of April’s most promising new titles. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)New to Amazon Prime Video‘Fallout’ Season 1Starts streaming: April 11This sardonic postapocalyptic action-adventure series combines elements from different games within the larger “Fallout” video game franchise, which since its debut in 1997 has delighted gamers with a mix of rich storytelling and wry wit. The series has Ella Purnell playing Lucy, an exemplary citizen in an underground bunker colony on an Earth ravaged by nuclear warfare. When circumstances force Lucy to the surface, the sunny optimism she learned from her father (Kyle MacLachlan) is tested by her encounters with scavengers, mutants and heavily armed soldiers in robotic armor. Developed by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (the team behind “Westworld”) with the showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet (the co-writer of “Captain Marvel”) and Graham Wagner (a “Portlandia” writer), “Fallout” aims to be the rollicking, irreverent counter to all the dour end-of-the-world TV shows.Also arriving:April 1“House” Season 1April 4“Música”April 5“How to Date Billy Walsh”“Alex Rider” Season 3April 12“Apartment 404”April 18“Dinner With the Parents” Season 1“Going Home With Tyler Cameron” Season 1April 25“Them: The Scare” Season 1Cecilia Bartin in “Girls State,” a documentary directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss on Apple TV+.Whitney Curtis/Apple TV+New to Apple TV+‘Girls State’Starts streaming: April 5The 2020 documentary “Boys State” followed a group of Texas high schoolers at a politics-themed summer camp. For this sequel, the directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine cover a similar camp from a different perspective, embedding with Missouri high school girls as they run for office, draft resolutions and hear court cases, emulating the functions of a state government. This particular edition of Missouri’s Girls State was held on the same campus as Boys State, inviting direct comparison between the programs (which differ in their levels of rigor). It also happened not long after the draft of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision was leaked. As with the earlier film, Moss and McBaine avoid turning their subjects into simplistic heroes or villains. Instead, “Girls State” honors these bright, concerned young ladies’ earnest interest in making friends and becoming better leaders.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Chance Perdomo, Star of ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,’ Dies at 27

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      Mr. Perdomo, who died in a motorcycle accident on Friday, played the pansexual warlock Ambrose Spellman in the Netflix series.Chance Perdomo, the British actor known for his roles in the series “Gen V” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” died on Friday. He was 27.Mr. Perdomo died in a motorcycle accident, Larissa Saenz, a representative for him, confirmed in a statement on Saturday. The statement said that the “authorities have advised that no other individuals were involved.” It was not immediately clear where the accident happened.Mr. Perdomo played the pansexual warlock Ambrose Spellman in the Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and Andre Anderson, a superhuman with magnetic manipulation abilities, in “The Boys” spinoff series “Gen V.”He was born on Oct. 20, 1996, according to his representative, in Los Angeles and raised in Southampton, England. Details on survivors were not immediately available.Mr. Perdomo had described himself as “a Black child raised by a Latino mother in a white society with two nationalities.”He landed a small part on an episode of “Hetty Feather,” a British children’s drama set in the Victorian era, after graduating from Peter Symonds College in Winchester, where one of his majors was theater.He told The New York Times in 2020 that although the role was “one or two lines,” it was enough “to take that leap of faith” and pursue acting full time.Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television said in a statement posted to a “Gen V” social media account that they were “devastated” by the news of Mr. Perdomo’s death.The account also shared a statement from the producers of “Gen V” in which they said they “can’t quite wrap our heads around this.”“Even writing about him in the past tense doesn’t make sense,” the statement added.Variety reported that production on the second season of “Gen V” had been “delayed indefinitely” after the news of Mr. Perdomo’s death.In Britain, Mr. Perdomo was known for starring in “Killed by My Debt,” a television movie based on the true story of a young courier who dies by suicide after two traffic tickets grow into a crushing debt.In an interview posted on social media, he recalled a conversation he had with his mother when he was about 2 years old. He told her he had two things he aspired to.“She said, ‘What do you want to be?’” he said. “I said I want to be the first Black president of the United States, and I want to be on ‘Barney.’”Mr. Perdomo went on to describe the differences between his roles on “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and “Killed by My Debt.” Of his work, he said: “It’s been quite a year. Quite a couple of years.”“Visual mediums are great tools to be able to get messages and get thoughts across,” he added.He said that connecting with someone emotionally could help lead a person to think differently and “that can change perspectives and hopefully lead to more of a permanent change.” More

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      For Cesar Conde, NBC’s News Chief, Corporate Polish Meets Partisan Reality

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      Cesar Conde, a leader with an M.B.A. but a limited journalism background, is facing the toughest scrutiny of his career.Cesar Conde is not the typical leader of a major news institution.A Wharton-trained executive who revived the fortunes of Telemundo and sits on the boards of Pepsi and Walmart, Mr. Conde had limited experience in journalism when, in 2020, he became the chairman of NBC’s sprawling news division, including MSNBC, CNBC and franchises like “Meet the Press,” “Nightly News” and the “Today” show.Now he is trying to navigate the biggest crisis of his tenure: a journalistic firestorm that prompted an open revolt among his stars and has fueled internal questions about just how neatly Mr. Conde’s corporate experience and ambitions gel with the unique challenges of the news business.The rapid hiring and dismissal of Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, stunned network journalists over the past week, with many asking why Mr. Conde and his deputies had brought on someone who had vilified NBC and advanced former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The blowback facing Mr. Conde, 50, a former fellow in George W. Bush’s White House who prides himself on having an even-keeled, nonpartisan reputation, is coming from both sides of the aisle. Left-leaning fans of MSNBC felt betrayed, and Republican officials are mocking NBC as biased, even threatening to bar its reporters from this summer’s nominating convention.At elite retreats like the Aspen Ideas Festival, Mr. Conde, who declined to be interviewed, likes to say he runs “the largest news organization in the country.” As he heads into the scrutiny of a general-election campaign, he is discovering just how hard that job can be.Two of Mr. Conde’s newsroom leaders — Rebecca Blumenstein, the NBC News president of editorial, and Carrie Budoff Brown, who oversees political coverage — recommended Ms. McDaniel to Mr. Conde; Rashida Jones, the MSNBC president, also signed off, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Conde trusted the judgment of his top journalists, the people said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Georgia Town Basks in Bountiful Filming. The State Pays.

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      When movies are made in Thomasville, Ga., it welcomes celebrities and an infusion of cash. But the financial incentives that attract studios have cost the state billions.It is no wonder that moviemakers saw potential in Thomasville, Ga., as a stand-in for Main Street U.S.A. Cobblestone streets and mom-and-pop stores speckle the downtown of this city of 18,000 that is caked in red clay soil and nestled among rolling hills.Just as attractive to some of those producers are Georgia’s lavish filming incentives, which have made Thomasville a cost-effective place to make modest pictures with major stars. Dustin Hoffman came for the rom-com “Sam & Kate.” A children’s book adaptation, “The Tiger Rising,” brought Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah to town.But what is good on the ground for local economies — Thomasville says each of the six movies filmed there has provided an economic boost of about $1 million — can simultaneously be a drain on state coffers.Some Georgia lawmakers wondered whether it might be wise to put some limits on an uncapped tax incentive program that has given billions of dollars to Hollywood studios, scrambling this week in hopes of passing a bill that would modify the program. More