Former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden was “not the least bit” tempted to watch FX’s popular mini-series The People v. O.J. Simpson. Darden also “knew the series would not be accurate,” according to a new interview he gave to The Today Show.
Speaking to Savannah Guthrie, Darden touched on key aspects of what he calls “the trial that never dies,” such as his first impressions of the jury (he was taken aback that it wasn’t more “diverse”) and his courtroom argument with Johnnie Cochran. Darden, played by Sterling K. Brown in FX’s mini-series, also spoke on the show’s suggestion of a romantic relationship between him and Marcia Clark, played by Sarah Paulson.
“I’ll wait until Marcia is sitting next to me to talk about it in greater detail,” Darden said. “People want a happy ending to what was otherwise a terrible ending. Look at it from my position as a lawyer. … If I would have said I had a relationship with Marcia Clark, people would say we lost a case because we were more interested in intimacy than in the law and the facts. That would be an even worse position to be in.”
Darden also revealed that he thought the Simpson trial was lost way before Simpson tried on those gloves. He doesn’t regret asking Simpson to try them on and thinks “the whole glove thing was the most brilliant move in any criminal courtroom in the history of American jurisprudence.” What Darden does regret? Getting involved in the Simpson trial in the first place.
Watch Darden’s Today Show interview in its entirety here.