12 TV Moments Made Unintentionally Depressing By Real Life Events

There are dozens of shows and movies that were bizarre to watch after the O.J. Simpson murder trial, but this quick joke from Seinfeld is a particularly weird example.

In the Season 5 episode The Masseuse, Elaine wants her boyfriend Joel Rifkin to change his name given that he shares it with the infamous serial killer. She's trying to think of a better name that doesn't belong to a killer while flipping through a football magazine, and so she suddenly suggests he changes it to O.J. 

That's a great name, and clearly there are no violent murderers named O.J! 

The Masseuse aired on November 18, 1993. Just 7 months later, O.J. Simpson was put on trial for murder. If you aren't aware of the timing, you might actually think that the joke is that Elaine doesn't want her boyfriend to share his name with a criminal and she accidentally suggests the name of another criminal, but nope. That's completely unintentional, and in retrospect, it's both a depressing and eerie coincidence.