Barely 10 seconds into walking onstage on Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel was ready to begin dishing out the arsenal of jokes he had at the ready following the news of O.J. Simpson’s death.
First, he interrupted the live audience’s applause to offer a heartfelt thank you for their support, given that “it was a tough day. God, I miss O.J. so much—already! I really do,” he said.
“As most of you probably know, the big story was that O.J. Simpson went to Hell today,” Kimmel continued, then commented on how “it’s rare that a celebrity as famous as O.J. was doesn’t get an outpouring of love after news of his death, but it makes sense.”
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While he moved on to other topics, like Donald Trump’s upcoming hush money trial, Kimmel concluded his monologue by bringing back an old friend of the show: Jake Byrd, a self-described “celebrity avenger” who attended Simpson’s 2007 robbery trial in Nevada on behalf of Jimmy Kimmel Live, but ended up becoming a part of the trial’s story.
Byrd, a character created for Kimmel’s show and played by comedian Anthony J. Barbieri, became a fixture at the 2007 trial and a major talking point amongst the media with his “OJ 07” T-shirt and “I Heart Famous People” trucker hat.
Byrd was regularly seen standing right behind Yale Galanter, Simpson’s attorney, during press conferences, where he made sure to loudly weigh in on every development in the trial, where Simpson was eventually found guilty and served nine years in prison.
An old clip from Morning Joe that aired during the segment saw Willie Geist discussing Byrd, with Mika Brzezinski admitting that the (then-still-secret) prankster was the only thing keeping her glued to the trial. In a segment for Fox News titled “Who’s That Crazy Guy?,” Byrd made sure to let Simpson know that all of America supported the former football great “1,000 percent.” Dan Abrams, meanwhile, named Byrd the “Big Loser” on his show—but did give him some airtime (then promptly rushed him off).
On Thursday night, Barbieri revived the character to appear with Kimmel security guard/sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, where he could be seen crying in a T-shirt with Simpson’s mugshot that now read “NO J.”
Kimmel wasn’t the only late-night host to mention Simpson’s passing. Jimmy Fallon announced the death during his monologue, claiming that “as we speak, someone is trying to write the most impossible eulogy of all-time.”
Meanwhile, over on The Daily Show, guest host Michael Kosta invoked Juice’s name while discussing the all-around backlash to Arizona’s archaic abortion ban, which he said was “being received as well as O.J. Simpson at the pearly gates.”
