O.J.'s If I Did It publisher squeezed out

The woman behind If I Did It shouldn't have.

Judith Regan, O.J. Simpson's would-be publisher, was fired Friday,bringing an end to her sensational, scandalous tenure at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., with the tersest of announcements.

"Judith Regan's employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately," HarperCollins chief executive officer Jane Friedman said in a statement. "The REGAN publishing program and staff will continue as part of the HarperCollins General Books Group."

Regan's firing comes less than a month after Murdoch's cancellation of If I Did It, a planned book and Fox television interview featuring Simpson's hypothetical murder confession that was greeted with instant and near-universal disgust when announced.

Labelled 'enfant terrible' of U.S. publishing

A message left with Regan's Los Angeles-based publicist was not immediately returned.

An industry force since the 1980s, when she produced best-sellers by Drew Barrymore and Kathie Lee Gifford for Simon & Schuster, Regan has been labeled a "foul-mouthed tyrant" and the "enfant terrible of American publishing." She is also widely envied — if not admired — for her gift of attracting attention to her books and to herself.

Since 1994, she has headed the ReganBooks imprint at News Corp.'s HarperCollins, an ideal fit for Murdoch's tabloid tastes.

Regan has published a long list of racy best-sellers, including Jose Canseco's Juiced and Jenna Jameson's How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, and is the rare publisher of interest to gossip columnists, notably for a rumored affair with former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

She often clashed with her more temperate peers and is widely believed to have had tense relations with Friedman. Last year, Regan moved her offices to Los Angeles, further distancing herself from corporate officials in New York.

Regan has often complained that her more literary side has been overlooked, pointing out that she has published books by Wally Lamb, Canadian author Douglas Coupland and novelist Jess Walter, whose The Zero was a finalist for the National Book Award in November.

The Simpson project, announced the day before the awards ceremony, quickly overshadowed the nomination.