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Episode 6 FACT CHECK
Did Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden ever hook up? History is tantalizingly unclear.
In the sixth episode of FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson, Ryan Murphy lays out two controversies; the first, a scathing, excruciating critique of misogyny and cruelty-fueled media. In interviews given since the series started airing, Marcia Clark has said that she feared reliving the “physically painful” verdict, and after an episode that’s almost exclusively devoted to the scrutiny Clark endured from the defense and from tabloid media, after watching a grocery clerk joke about P.M.S. affecting the trial (“the defense better watch out”) when she’s buying tampons, it’s easy to see why.
After Gil Garcetti, her boss, tells her to consider hiring a media consultant (which really happened), she goes to a hair dresser for something softer, and the guy promises that his haircut will be “the best version of yourself.” We cringe as Sarah Paulson brilliantly lets us see her imagine that best self, as “A Kiss from a Rose” plays absurdly in the background—a woman’s “best self” can only be found in her appearance.
And yet the most satisfying moment both Clark and the audience get in this episode is when she completely eviscerates the sneak-attack testimony thrown at her in the most underhanded way by the defense. She shows unequivocally that the witness who was going to prove Simpson’s innocence is completely lying, and in fact, only able to repeat “whatever Mr. Johnnie says.” Winning in the courtroom is her actual best self, and it’s a skin-crawling tragedy to see the men around her (with the exception of Chris Darden) criticize her for not looking attractive enough for magazine covers normally devoted to movie stars.
The second controversy is an even bigger mystery than whether or not O.J. really did it: Did prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden ever hook up? In fueling that speculation the show makes the audience aware of our own complicity in their first major theme. A scene almost certainly that did not happen is one of the best in this episode. After a sweet moment where Darden tries to cheer up Clark with a slow dance in her office, the scene cuts to the next morning, and we hear a radio D.J. ask the audience to call in to vote on whether Clark is a “*****” or a “babe.” As Darden comes out of the bathroom in his underwear to grab the phone and call in, it’s disappointing when Marcia is not there with him. (He votes “babe.”)
Their budding romantic-seeming relationship is so far the only feel-good part of the actual story, and indulging in it transforms a close relationship between two people under incredible stress into smutty tabloid fuel. Did they actually dance and drink tequila to blow off steam? According to Chris Darden’s trial memoir, In Contempt, yes they totally did. Did he notice her “babe” makeover? No. Did they pass encouraging notes to each other during the trial? Yes. Darden even writes that they had a “Post-it note” relationship, which is at the very least extremely cute.
He describes their relationship as “a passing friendship before the trial, but . . . we had become close friends and confidants, bonded by the pressure of the Simpson case.” They write with clear affection and tenderness when describing each other and their working relationship in their separate books about the trial, Darden going so far as to recount a moment of contemplating entering into a romance with Clark:
Still, why not have a relationship with Marcia? She was attractive and I was impressed by her intelligence and toughness, intrigued by her vulnerability. We were working together as many as fifteen or sixteen hours a day, watching each other’s backs in court and commiserating over the media and other things that no one else understood.
Clark similarly offers an indirect answer to questions around their relationship:
There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Chris and I were lovers. And if there’s any one of you out there with lingering curiosity on this point, I’m truly sorry. The question is irrelevant. Fact of the matter is, Chris Darden and I were closer than lovers. And unless you’ve been through what we went through, you can’t possibly know what that means.
And now, a fact check of the other episode highlights, from dramatic courtroom testimonies to Marcia Clark’s courtroom tears.
Ex-husband Gordon filed for primary custody during the trial and issued a “declaration” about their battle to the media.
True. But not exactly as depicted: she found out not in a dramatic scene in a courthouse hallway, but from the public-relations officer at the D.A.’s office while at work. From Clark’s memoir, Without a Doubt, she recalls asking, “How does the media get hold of a motion before I know it even exists?”
Marcia Clark’s courtroom burn of F. Lee Bailey.
True—and amazing. From New York Times coverage of the trial, breaking down the tension between Clark and Bailey: “The war of words briefly stopped—until Mr. Bailey attempted to move a glove into evidence. Ms. Clark objected, because it did not resemble those at the core of the case. ‘Size small,’ she said sarcastically as she picked it up. ‘I guess it’s Mr. Bailey’s glove.’”
Marcia Clark’s first husband sold nude photographs of her to the National Enquirer.
False. Her former mother-in-law sold them to the tabloid. From her memoir: “In my mind’s eye, I could see Gaby [her first husband] and me and our Italian train-conductor friend. We were playful and giddy. I’d shed my top. It was so innocent. . . . I later learned that a private eye, hoping to curry favor with the Dream Team, had tracked her down in Israel and put her in touch with the Enquirer.”
Judge Ito called a recess for the day when he noticed Marcia Clark in tears.
True. From Without a Doubt:
I should never have tried to make it back to court that day [after the release of the nude photos]. I guess I wanted to prove that I was tough enough to keep my head up and keep on working. I overestimated my own strength. No sooner had I taken my seat at the counsel table . . . I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. . . . Lance must have caught my distress, because, in a singular act of compassion, he quickly managed to recess court for the day.
Darden comforted a crying Marcia in her office.
True. According to Clark:
“Besides,” he continued, “I thought you looked real good in those pictures.” “You really think so?” “Sure.” “You didn’t think I looked fat?” He laughed. “No way, man. It gave me a woody.” I laughed. Then we both started to laugh. And we laughed and continued laughing until we were actually howling. With a single bawdy quip, Chris had managed to restore my perspective. How, I asked myself, does he manage to do that?
The scene plays slightly differently in Darden’s memoir, though:
“I stuck my head into her office. . . . Marcia wept intermittently and wiped at her eyes. . . . “So what did you think of the photos?” Marcia asked. I paused as if to carefully consider what effect these scandals might have on our case. “Just be honest,” she said.
“Personally, I thought they looked pretty good.” She looked up from the tissue, smiled for a second, and then burst into laughter. “Some therapist you’d make, Darden.”
The testimony of Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Denise, played by Jordana Brewster.
True. The dialogue in the show is taken nearly word for word, leaving out the far more violent continuation of the incident where O.J. grabbed Nicole’s crotch, after which he “picked her up, threw her against the wall.” [Quote from trial testimony recorded in Jeffrey Toobin’s book.]
Detective Philip Vannatter took vials of O.J.’s blood, drawn the day after the crime, around with him to the crime scene.
True. In fact, the publicity from how disorganized and haphazardly the crime scene and evidence were treated has changed how the L.A.P.D. collects and keeps track of evidence at crime scenes. From a 2014 Associated Press article, Doreen Hudson, head of the L.A.P.D. crime lab said, “That would never happen today. . . . Officers still get sidetracked following a suspect or victim to a hospital, for example, before returning to the scene, but today they wouldn't be allowed to re-enter a crime scene with evidence.” Of the Simpson case’s impact on crime procedurals she said, “The only thing you can do is when something really bad happens is to try to make something good out of it.”
Detective Tom Lange took evidence—i.e., O.J.’s shoes—home with him overnight—to Simi Valley.
True, though it was a private investigator employed by the defense who discovered in conversation where Lange lived and told Johnnie Cochran. More importantly, it’s true that Cochran hammered that Lang lived in Simi Valley over and over again. According to Jeffrey Toobin’s book The Run of His Life:
The fact that Lange lived in Simi Valley was anything but accidental. The place—even just the words “Simi Valley”—was anathema to black (and many white) Angelenos because it was the site of the notorious acquittal, on state charges, of the police officers who beat Rodney King. Overwhelmingly white, highly conservative, and not coincidentally the home of many Los Angeles police officers, Simi Valley had a reputation as the paradigmatic racist Southern California community. Cochran wanted the jury to know that Lange lived there.
Johnnie Cochran’s “own history of domestic abuse.”
True, as far as the accusation goes. During the trial, Cochran’s first wife, Barbara, wrote a memoir that accuses him of hitting her after she discovered that he’d been having an affair. Cochran denied the allegations, but as recounted in The Run of His Life, “he turned violent, and he beat her on several occasions. Pounding his hands on her head above the hairline, Cochran yelled, ‘I’m going to hit you where there won’t be any bruises!’”
In the sixth episode of FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson, Ryan Murphy lays out two controversies; the first, a scathing, excruciating critique of misogyny and cruelty-fueled media. In interviews given since the series started airing, Marcia Clark has said that she feared reliving the “physically painful” verdict, and after an episode that’s almost exclusively devoted to the scrutiny Clark endured from the defense and from tabloid media, after watching a grocery clerk joke about P.M.S. affecting the trial (“the defense better watch out”) when she’s buying tampons, it’s easy to see why.
After Gil Garcetti, her boss, tells her to consider hiring a media consultant (which really happened), she goes to a hair dresser for something softer, and the guy promises that his haircut will be “the best version of yourself.” We cringe as Sarah Paulson brilliantly lets us see her imagine that best self, as “A Kiss from a Rose” plays absurdly in the background—a woman’s “best self” can only be found in her appearance.
And yet the most satisfying moment both Clark and the audience get in this episode is when she completely eviscerates the sneak-attack testimony thrown at her in the most underhanded way by the defense. She shows unequivocally that the witness who was going to prove Simpson’s innocence is completely lying, and in fact, only able to repeat “whatever Mr. Johnnie says.” Winning in the courtroom is her actual best self, and it’s a skin-crawling tragedy to see the men around her (with the exception of Chris Darden) criticize her for not looking attractive enough for magazine covers normally devoted to movie stars.
The second controversy is an even bigger mystery than whether or not O.J. really did it: Did prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden ever hook up? In fueling that speculation the show makes the audience aware of our own complicity in their first major theme. A scene almost certainly that did not happen is one of the best in this episode. After a sweet moment where Darden tries to cheer up Clark with a slow dance in her office, the scene cuts to the next morning, and we hear a radio D.J. ask the audience to call in to vote on whether Clark is a “*****” or a “babe.” As Darden comes out of the bathroom in his underwear to grab the phone and call in, it’s disappointing when Marcia is not there with him. (He votes “babe.”)
Their budding romantic-seeming relationship is so far the only feel-good part of the actual story, and indulging in it transforms a close relationship between two people under incredible stress into smutty tabloid fuel. Did they actually dance and drink tequila to blow off steam? According to Chris Darden’s trial memoir, In Contempt, yes they totally did. Did he notice her “babe” makeover? No. Did they pass encouraging notes to each other during the trial? Yes. Darden even writes that they had a “Post-it note” relationship, which is at the very least extremely cute.
He describes their relationship as “a passing friendship before the trial, but . . . we had become close friends and confidants, bonded by the pressure of the Simpson case.” They write with clear affection and tenderness when describing each other and their working relationship in their separate books about the trial, Darden going so far as to recount a moment of contemplating entering into a romance with Clark:
Still, why not have a relationship with Marcia? She was attractive and I was impressed by her intelligence and toughness, intrigued by her vulnerability. We were working together as many as fifteen or sixteen hours a day, watching each other’s backs in court and commiserating over the media and other things that no one else understood.
Clark similarly offers an indirect answer to questions around their relationship:
There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Chris and I were lovers. And if there’s any one of you out there with lingering curiosity on this point, I’m truly sorry. The question is irrelevant. Fact of the matter is, Chris Darden and I were closer than lovers. And unless you’ve been through what we went through, you can’t possibly know what that means.
And now, a fact check of the other episode highlights, from dramatic courtroom testimonies to Marcia Clark’s courtroom tears.
Ex-husband Gordon filed for primary custody during the trial and issued a “declaration” about their battle to the media.
True. But not exactly as depicted: she found out not in a dramatic scene in a courthouse hallway, but from the public-relations officer at the D.A.’s office while at work. From Clark’s memoir, Without a Doubt, she recalls asking, “How does the media get hold of a motion before I know it even exists?”
Marcia Clark’s courtroom burn of F. Lee Bailey.
True—and amazing. From New York Times coverage of the trial, breaking down the tension between Clark and Bailey: “The war of words briefly stopped—until Mr. Bailey attempted to move a glove into evidence. Ms. Clark objected, because it did not resemble those at the core of the case. ‘Size small,’ she said sarcastically as she picked it up. ‘I guess it’s Mr. Bailey’s glove.’”
Marcia Clark’s first husband sold nude photographs of her to the National Enquirer.
False. Her former mother-in-law sold them to the tabloid. From her memoir: “In my mind’s eye, I could see Gaby [her first husband] and me and our Italian train-conductor friend. We were playful and giddy. I’d shed my top. It was so innocent. . . . I later learned that a private eye, hoping to curry favor with the Dream Team, had tracked her down in Israel and put her in touch with the Enquirer.”
Judge Ito called a recess for the day when he noticed Marcia Clark in tears.
True. From Without a Doubt:
I should never have tried to make it back to court that day [after the release of the nude photos]. I guess I wanted to prove that I was tough enough to keep my head up and keep on working. I overestimated my own strength. No sooner had I taken my seat at the counsel table . . . I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. . . . Lance must have caught my distress, because, in a singular act of compassion, he quickly managed to recess court for the day.
Darden comforted a crying Marcia in her office.
True. According to Clark:
“Besides,” he continued, “I thought you looked real good in those pictures.” “You really think so?” “Sure.” “You didn’t think I looked fat?” He laughed. “No way, man. It gave me a woody.” I laughed. Then we both started to laugh. And we laughed and continued laughing until we were actually howling. With a single bawdy quip, Chris had managed to restore my perspective. How, I asked myself, does he manage to do that?
The scene plays slightly differently in Darden’s memoir, though:
“I stuck my head into her office. . . . Marcia wept intermittently and wiped at her eyes. . . . “So what did you think of the photos?” Marcia asked. I paused as if to carefully consider what effect these scandals might have on our case. “Just be honest,” she said.
“Personally, I thought they looked pretty good.” She looked up from the tissue, smiled for a second, and then burst into laughter. “Some therapist you’d make, Darden.”
The testimony of Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister Denise, played by Jordana Brewster.
True. The dialogue in the show is taken nearly word for word, leaving out the far more violent continuation of the incident where O.J. grabbed Nicole’s crotch, after which he “picked her up, threw her against the wall.” [Quote from trial testimony recorded in Jeffrey Toobin’s book.]
Detective Philip Vannatter took vials of O.J.’s blood, drawn the day after the crime, around with him to the crime scene.
True. In fact, the publicity from how disorganized and haphazardly the crime scene and evidence were treated has changed how the L.A.P.D. collects and keeps track of evidence at crime scenes. From a 2014 Associated Press article, Doreen Hudson, head of the L.A.P.D. crime lab said, “That would never happen today. . . . Officers still get sidetracked following a suspect or victim to a hospital, for example, before returning to the scene, but today they wouldn't be allowed to re-enter a crime scene with evidence.” Of the Simpson case’s impact on crime procedurals she said, “The only thing you can do is when something really bad happens is to try to make something good out of it.”
Detective Tom Lange took evidence—i.e., O.J.’s shoes—home with him overnight—to Simi Valley.
True, though it was a private investigator employed by the defense who discovered in conversation where Lange lived and told Johnnie Cochran. More importantly, it’s true that Cochran hammered that Lang lived in Simi Valley over and over again. According to Jeffrey Toobin’s book The Run of His Life:
The fact that Lange lived in Simi Valley was anything but accidental. The place—even just the words “Simi Valley”—was anathema to black (and many white) Angelenos because it was the site of the notorious acquittal, on state charges, of the police officers who beat Rodney King. Overwhelmingly white, highly conservative, and not coincidentally the home of many Los Angeles police officers, Simi Valley had a reputation as the paradigmatic racist Southern California community. Cochran wanted the jury to know that Lange lived there.
Johnnie Cochran’s “own history of domestic abuse.”
True, as far as the accusation goes. During the trial, Cochran’s first wife, Barbara, wrote a memoir that accuses him of hitting her after she discovered that he’d been having an affair. Cochran denied the allegations, but as recounted in The Run of His Life, “he turned violent, and he beat her on several occasions. Pounding his hands on her head above the hairline, Cochran yelled, ‘I’m going to hit you where there won’t be any bruises!’”
#ColdWorld
!!! Dude didn't even realize until it was too late.
