Over time, certain aspects of our favorite movies and shows inevitably become dated or seem ridiculous in retrospect. There’s perhaps no greater example of this than the Season 5 Seinfeld episode “The Masseuse.”
Originally airing on November 18, 1993, the episode revolves, in part, around Elaine’s relationship with her new boyfriend. The one problem she can’t seem to get past is that the guy shares his name with notorious serial killer Joel Rifkin, who confessed to murdering 17 women.
Joel later decides to change his name, but isn’t too fond of the suggestions Elaine comes up with. “Oh! Oh, oh, oh, O.J.!” Elaine yells out while glancing at a picture in a magazine. “O.J. Rifkin!” she continues, referring, of course, to O.J. Simpson’s nickname. From there, Elaine literally begs Joel to adopt the new moniker, saying, “Please, please, please change your name to O.J., please! It would be so great!”
To add a little context, this episode aired less than seven months before Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
‘Seinfeld’ Accidentally Made One of the Darkest O.J. Simpson Jokes Ever
This wouldn’t be the last time Simpson came up on the show, however. Just three months after Simpson’s infamous Ford Bronco police chase was televised, Seinfeld parodied the incident in Season 6’s “The Big Salad.” In the episode, former baseball player Steve Gendason (Dean Hallo) is suspected of killing his dry cleaner and Kramer thinks he may have been the one to push him over the edge. Kramer goes to see Gendason, and the two also end up being pursued by police while driving a Ford Bronco (actual footage of Simpson’s chase was even edited into the show).
Finally, in the following season’s “The Caddy,” Kramer takes a woman to court, claiming that her exposed bra caused him to get into a car accident. In yet another reference to Simpson—particularly, the controversy over the glove used in the murders not fitting on Simpson’s hand—Kramer’s lawyer asks that the defendant try on the bra in question. When it doesn’t fit the woman over her clothing, the lawyer complains to Kramer about the circumstances. “A bra’s gotta fit right up against a person’s skin,” he tells Kramer, “Like a glove!”
You can check out a compilation of all the Simpson references from the show above.
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