Walters Pulls Plug On O.J. Interview

Loud cheers from a studio audience greeted Barbara Walters' announcement Monday that she has canceled a scheduled appearance by O.J. Simpson this week on her syndicated talk show, The View.

Several viewers, members of the show's production staff and all four of her co-hosts had told her they were uncomfortable having Simpson as a guest, she said.

"Mr. Simpson will not appear on our program," Walters said.

Simpson's appearance, scheduled for Wednesday, was to promote his participation in a two-hour Internet "chat" session on Thursday where members of the public can pay a fee to ask him questions.

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

Walters said she and her co-executive producer, Bill Geddie, made the decision to cancel the booking.

"Although on The View, Bill Geddie and I encourage differences of opinion among us - we can't stop it and indeed we love it - there was more serious concern about having Mr. Simpson on the program from all of you at this table," she said.

She was surrounded by her co-hosts, Meredith Vieira, Joy Behar, Star Jones and Lisa Ling. Vieira joined in the audience's cheers by pounding the table after Walters' announcement.

Behar chose to make a joke: "As Johnnie Cochran says, if the guy's a schnook, you must unbook."

Simpson is making other television appearances ahead of his Internet "chat" session, including interviews Tuesday on NBC's Today and with Paula Zahn on Fox News Channel.

A Fox News Channel spokesman said Simpson's representatives asked to see questions they would be asked on the show in advance but were refused.

Goldman's father, Fred, went on Fox News Channel last week to encourage television networks not to have Simpson as a guest.