At each year’s NFL Honors event, the league remembers people in the football world who have died during the previous year. But one Hall of Famer who died last year was kept out of Thursday night’s ceremony.

O.J. Simpson, whose great football career was overshadowed by the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, was excluded from the in memoriam segment. Simpson was found not guilty but later found liable in a civil lawsuit, and later spent time in prison for armed robbery, and the NFL has largely tried to ignore him ever since.

It’s easy to see why the NFL would decide not to include Simpson, in the thought that his presence in a tribute would detract attention from everyone else. The league and the Bills also didn’t release statements when Simpson died.

Simpson died of prostate cancer on April 10, 2024 at the age of 76.