Norm! column

Nov. 5, 2007

O.J. unwelcome at several hotels

Cirque du O.J. returns this week, with the usual cast of quirky characters and a big question. In the city with a gazillion hotel rooms, where is O.J. Simpson going to stay?

The disgraced NFL Hall of Famer and his fellow suspects face pretrial hearings on Thursday and Friday on charges stemming from a September incident at Palace Station.

Simpson has worn out his welcome at several hotels.

Corporate casino giants MGM Mirage and Harrah's have joined the Palms in preferring that O.J. and his media circus go elsewhere.

"We would be unable to accept a hotel reservation from (him) because of the operational challenges that the crush of media would likely present," MGM Mirage's Alan Feldman, an executive vice president, told Newsweek freelancer Steve Friess.

Harrah's Vice President Michael Weaver told Friess that the decision to allow a celebrity to check in "depends on whether or not there is any positive public relations to be obtained by it." In this case, Weaver said, the answer is a pretty firm "no."

Before Simpson was jailed in connection with the sports memorabilia grab at Palace Station, he was staying at the Palms.

It was "highly unlikely he'd stay here again," Palms owner George Maloof said in September. "We don't need the drama. It was a disruption and a hindrance to our other guests."

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