Insisting earlier in the week that its scheduled debut date for the new Bronco was simply a coincidence, Ford has nonetheless found itself forced to push back the model’s reveal even further.
The automaker unintentionally made waves after its planned July 9th reveal of the reborn off-roader (already deferred by the pandemic and resulting trade show cancellations) coincided with the birthday of O.J. Simpson — a man forever linked to the vehicle following his low-speed 1994 cruise into infamy.
Everyone noticed, including the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson, whose 1994 murder — along with that of friend Ron Goldman — sparked the trial of the century.
As of Friday, the July 9th date is off the table.
“The reveal of the all-new Ford Bronco lineup will now happen on Monday, July 13. The previous targeted date of July 9 unintentionally coincided with O.J. Simpson’s birthday,” stated Mark Truby, vice president of communications for Ford, via Twitter.
“We wanted to be sensitive and respectful of this concern.”
Ford has a hectic product schedule this year, one made all the more complex by the disruptive arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. Trade show debuts are out, germ-free online unveilings are in. Later this month will see the reveal of the next-generation F-150, with the unibody Bronco Sport following the unveiling of the body-on-frame Bronco.
Earlier in the week, controversy sparked by the Bronco debut date reached Tanya Brown, sister of the murder victim.
“Is that on purpose?” the Detroit Free Press reports her asking. “My first reaction was, ‘are you kidding me? This is funny?’
Simpson was acquitted on two counts of murder following an 11-month trial that galvanized the world, only to then lose a wrongful death civil lawsuit. He was later charged with armed robbery and kidnapping following a 2007 incident in a Las Vegas hotel room, earning him a sentence of 33 years. He was released on parole in 2017 after serving 9 years.
Despite Ford’s insistence that the debut was merely a coincidence, the launch’s timing didn’t sit well with many, including UAW members. One president of a UAW local (Todd Dunn, Louisville) told Freep that several members had approached him with concerns.
Eventually, it became all too much, forcing Ford to distance itself from any association with the model’s most famous occupant.
[Image: Ford]
Ok, I’ll play this new game!
On July 13, 1787 the U.S. passed the Northwest Ordinance. Thus assuring the building of dams and killing countless salmon. We MUST Protest!
Do you have a murdered relative who was also a salmon?
I was a chef for 35 years and oversaw the decline of salmon. My point is ANY date will piss somebody off.
“Can’t we all just get along?”
No flaming/trolling.
Precisely Rnaboz! We should riot and throw tantrums. Ford is being extremely insensitive.
Sounds fishy to me…
-Nate
Took the words right out of my mouth, good sir!
I don’t know what Ford was thinking to dredge up old wounds when trying to launch a big deal new car, dumb
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Are you drunk?
Isn’t OJ an oppressed black man? I see BLM used the proper Popular Mechanics technique to tear down the George Washington statue in Portland OR. Happy Juneteenth.
That’s all you’ve got? Carlson and Hannity must be slipping. Do try harder
These delicate SJW are so stupid. Tear down statues of great men (Colombia, Washington, etc) rename lakes because they’re named after a guy who was pro slavery (during a time when it was perfectly acceptable to be pro slavery) YET they’re too stupid to look in their pockets and see the guy who’s on the dime and not be outraged. FDR literally rounded up Japanese people and held them in camps. That happened within living memory for some people.
But let’s tear down statues of men who lived 200-500 years ago.
Frankly any statue of MLK should be ripped down as well. Or is sexual assault not a concern?
Who’s “Columbia”
EB, so I take it you think Ford is correct with the launch date. EB is pro-Ford :)
Talk about dumb, you just made a case for Ford. Hahahaha!
*Columbus, but you knew that.
And I don’t really care when Ford finally announces their inferior Wrangler clone, but to change the date because it’s OJs birthday is ridiculous. Realistically nobody really cares about the horsey SUV or the butch Escape. They should have been released years ago but furniture guy was too busy decimating quality and buying condemned train stations to play with.
No political campaigning/hackery.
It was never “acceptable” to be pro-slavery, merely common.
Who do you think it is that sewed your sneakers?
“It was never “acceptable” to be pro-slavery, merely common.
Except you’re completely wrong.
Watch US states start declaring sovereignty …
They tried that once and it didn’t work. Weren’t you suppose to learn a little US history before coming here to live?
Oh, yes. You’re right. Last time it was a plausible cause. Americans being good Christians did not like slavery at all. But God is no longer in the minds of these idiots. And if you take NY, North NY will be gladly fight against NYC and entire PA will be happy to fight Pittsburgh and Philly. So, if before, there was a united front in the north, today this is divided. Back then Russia counter-weighted UK and France, which helped South and minimized their influence by threatening them in Europe if they get involved here. Russian fleet stationed in NY and California to deter any ideas of landing by UK and France. Will Russia help the union today? You know the answer to this. Sure, today it is different and this is irrelevant. But today, the union is different. In this day and time, I am just wondering if anybody will fight at all. What, you’re going to send army to kill people just because they want to leave a broken union? Without a justified cause, like genocide, slavery or other strong reason. Maximum – sanctions. The world will be watching and they are already calling US to explain in UN. If Feds send troops to some state and fight starts, the US will be sanctioned, etc.
Oh for Christ’s sake, put the vodka down and go to bed, Boris
So, you agreed. I see.
Here is a joke that explains whole situation in America –
A lawyer had a son. He gave an old case to his son. One day the son storms into old lawyer’s office and victoriously declares, “Father, I won the case you could not win in 10 years!”
An old lawyer looks at his son above his glasses and says, “son, I’ve made a living off this case for 10 years.”
Don’t you think, these people had enough time to fix things? Yes. But they did not want to. Never wanted to. Not even today. But today they lost control over the crowd they incited
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) Jan 3, 1975-present
Steny Hoyer U.S. House Maryland District 5 1981-05-19
Marcy Kaptur U.S. House Ohio District 9 1983
Peter Visclosky U.S. House Indiana District 1 1985-01-03 Democratic Party
Nancy Pelosi U.S. House California District 12 1987 Democratic Party
Peter DeFazio U.S. House Oregon District 4 1987 Democratic Party
John Lewis U.S. House Georgia District 5 1987-01-03 Democratic Party
Richard Neal U.S. House Massachusetts District 1 1989-01-03 Democratic Party
Maxine Waters U.S. House California District 43 1991 Democratic Party
Dianne Feinstein U.S. Senate California 1993
Patty Murray U.S. Senate Washington 1993
Ron Wyden U.S. Senate Oregon 1996-01-30
Dick Durbin U.S. Senate Illinois 1997-01-07
Jack Reed U.S. Senate Rhode Island 1997-01-07
Chuck Schumer U.S. Senate New York 1999-01-06
Whatever OJ did or didn’t do, the trial eventually resulted in the Kardashians rising to popularity. This alone should be enough to condemn him to a life of scorn from his fellow citizens.
So true.
I have another beef with OJ. In a typical American ignorance he murdered his wife and another person 5 days before 1994 World Cup in US. And the channels which were supposed to show soccer matches extended programming into OJ trial/proceedings. My wonderful WC was so spoiled by this idiot.
Ha! What a crazy coincidence…OJ lives on!
“Whatever OJ did or didn’t do, the trial eventually resulted in the Kardashians rising to popularity. This alone should be enough to condemn him to a life of scorn from his fellow citizens.”
Agree and you can add Caitlyn Jenner and Kanye West who might become our next celebrity Presidents.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!
I read this last night and though damn if only nobody had put that together, it would have been epic.
“We wanted to be sensitive and respectful of this concern.”
In other words; The politically sensitive social warriors now dominate society and we give up.
Not that I blame Ford for caving.
This had nothing to do with “politically sensitive social warriors” nobody cares about OJ one way or another except the families involved. Ford changed the date because they didn’t want to be laughed at because of the obvious connection that somebody noticed
Not everything is a big PC left or right issue. some things are just dumb because they are
This stupid Bronco is going to be the biggest let down in automotive history. They can’t even launch the damn thing. It will probably come standard with a bunch of excuses stuffed into the glove box.
Which a$$hole originally made the discovery/link? I know they had to look up OJ’s birthday, since only a handful of humans know it by heart, and they’re not aware nor live by new car reveals.
You can show up in a (rare) all white, rental-grade Bronco from the ’90s and I still wouldn’t make the “OJ link”, or right away (it has happened to me). That dumba$$ is so far off my radar, it’s ridiculous.
Any time spent thinking of him is time wasted. And I was there, front/center when it when down “live”, watched the trial live, etc.
It couldn’t have been a car enthusiast. I’ll bet it was Doug Demuro.
Agreed. This foolishness just feeds oxygen to the PC crowd.
Not that the reveal actually matters. Everybody already knows what the Bronco looks like and much about its specs. You can’t even get one yet.
What’s Mitch Hurwitz (creator of Arrested Development) been doing lately? He (or one of his writers) made that connection.
“Narrator: In fact, George, Sr. had snuck out of the attic and gone to a local Ford dealership.
Car Salesman: The Bronco’s been discontinued. We’re trying to shed that whole fugitive on the run thing. This is the Escape.
George: What a fun name. May I test drive?”
We can always count on Ford to do the right thing. Eventually. Maybe.
Most likely it is accidental. Who in his right mind remembers OJ’s birthday? I cannot remember even my own birthday.
But there always will be people who think that Ford tried to do some kind of virtue signalling and it apparently did not work because despite that certain part of populous is convinced that there was no direct evidence against OJ and it was setup by white cops – most people in the entire world hate OJ.
If OJ is the first thing anyone thinks of when a Bronco is mentioned, we couldn’t have a conversation. I know nothing of their world.
What idiot really thinks it was intentional? OJ is in the part of my brain I wish I could delete, and opposite side of my ‘anything’ automotive related.
Ford did not intentionally make the original release date on OJ’s birthday. This is unintentional. Ford did the right thing by changing the date. Ford needs to just introduce the Bronco and get it out on the market. Way too much time between the product with the result being a big let down once the Bronco is available. Ford did this with the release of the new Ranger. I hope Ford doesn’t drag out the introduction of their new compact pickup that was originally going to be named the Courier and now the Maverick especially since I am interested in one. Ford needs to get their act together and get these new products out sooner instead of dragging them out especially since they need them.
I know,right? By the time the Bronco gets here will anybody care?
“Which a$$hole originally made the discovery/link?”
I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his name starts with Orenthal James.
I doubt OJ follows Bronco news, but anyone (in the media/press) that follows OJ is a bigger A$$hole.
I’m pretty sure Ford also wants “Bronco” to evoke the original small Bronco off-roader, not the later F150-based big ones. Much less evoke OJ.
I agree and although I am still looking forward to it, it won’t be much of either of the old two Broncos. I am surprised that there’s no mention of the Escape based Bronco Sport which was suppose to debut before the big Bronco
I don’t know what the intent was but covered under this rug, this car looks exactly like FJ Cruiser save for rounded wheel arches
Enough is enough no more dribbling pieces of news and pictures just say when the Bronco is coming out and get it out with no more delays. Drag this out any longer and those who are interested in the Bronco will lose interest. If this is the way Hacket runs a company then they need to get rid of him but it is Bill Ford who is most likely calling the shots. I would like to see Ford succeed and get their act together. FCA is a lost cause and GM has been circling the drain for a while–I doubt GM will remain a US based company much longer. Hyundai and Kia seem to be the rising stars and have been steadily improving the quality of their products and making vehicles that buyers want. If you take trucks away from Ford, GM, and FCA they would all fail.