Simpson Partly Blames Wife For Death

Wednesday, July 26th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” In a television interview intended to promote an upcoming two-hour Internet chat session, O.J. Simpson said his ex-wife was partly responsible for her own death.

``At times I'm angry with her,'' he said Tuesday during an interview for the Fox News Channel. ``Because I felt that she brought a lot of this onto herself.''

``She just got a little confused in her life and found herself hanging around with people she shouldn't have been hanging around with,'' Simpson said, describing friends she made near the end of her life as ``drug addicts, drug pushers and hookers.''

Simpson is scheduled to field questions from the public on Thursday in an Internet session sponsored by Entertainment Network Inc.

Simpson was acquitted of murder in a criminal trial but was found liable for the 1994 deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in a subsequent civil trial. He was ordered to pay the victims' families $33.5 million.

He has maintained his innocence and says the online session will give him the chance to speak directly to an audience.

``I'm definitely a victim,'' he said. ``I was convicted by the media.''

He said he would not be paid for his participation, except for a pledge from the company to contribute money to three children's charities.