Simpson Holds Fund-Raiser Protesters Clash As 300 Attend His Anti-Violence Event

A tuxedo-clad O.J. Simpson welcomed about 300 guests to an anti-violence fund-raiser at his mansion Thursday night as TV helicopters buzzed overhead and protesters gathered outside.

Women’s groups denounced the event as a cynical and shameless attempt to rebuild his image, especially since the party was staged in the same place where he beat his wife seven years ago.

Simpson told reporters he didn’t understand the protests.

“Who can be against stopping violence? This is about saving lives,” he said. “There have been 1,700 murders since Nicole and Ron and who cares about those people? This is about stepping in and helping those families.”

Simpson said he never considered whether his holding the event would cause controversy. “It doesn’t matter,” he added. “Those people are going to complain no matter what I do.”

The invitation-only event was organized by the Stop the ViolenceIncrease the Peace Foundation, a black group that works to curb gang violence and domestic abuse and is based in South Central Los Angeles.

The foundation last week said about 500 people were invited, and suggested donations ranged from $100 to $10,000. Among the estimated 300 guests was famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey and Simpson friend Al “A.C.” Cowlings.

Irv Rubin of the Jewish Defense League got into a shouting match with a group of black Simpson supporters on the street, and protesters carried signs reading “Hey O.J., Charity Begins At Home,” and “Rent-A-Killer, Freak Show Tonight.”

“No way did I anticipate the level of hatred and the willingness to put forth so much energy against this,” said Muhammad Nassardeen, a spokesman for the foundation. “The people who are with the lynch-mob mentality against Mr. Simpson seem to see us as the people standing in the way of the noose.”

Miles away, at the National Council of Jewish Women headquarters, women’s activists and anti-violence groups protested the fund-raiser.

“There’s blood on the floor at Rockingham,” said Tammy Bruce, who along with Nicole Simpson’s sister, Denise Brown, heads Women’s Progress Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to women and children’s rights. “I find it unconscionable that anyone would feel comfortable walking into a house where she was in a torture chamber.”

Simpson, acquitted last year of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, pleaded no contest in 1989 to abusing his then-wife. He faces a September trial in a wrongful-death lawsuit that seeks to hold him responsible for the slayings.

A foundation board member, actress Paula Kelly, said she lost a film role because her name appeared on the invitation to the event. Her spokeswoman refused to say what role Kelly, who played attorney Liz Williams on TV’s “Night Court,” was being considered for.

Other guests received calls telling them not to go, Nassardeen said.

Womens groups and a representative for Nicole Simpson’s family angrily denounced the event as a desperate attempt for positive publicity from a man trying to get back into the public’s good graces.

Attorney Gloria Allred, spokeswoman for Nicole Simpson’s family, added, “Mr. Simpson should not be used as a poster person for spousal abuse. He has not taken full responsibility for the violence he inflicted on Nicole.”

Simpson’s neighbors on Rockingham Avenue watched as flower deliveries arrived and police staked out the area.