While we officially record our sorrow at the passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett - and anyone else who’s carked it in the past 20 minutes or so - it’s worth noting the terminal case of death-mania which has struck the media today.
Leading the charge was Richard Wilkins on Channel Nine who aired the hoax story that Jeff Goldblum had died, apparently from a fall. Nine boldly declared Goldblum to be deader than disco and ran with the story for a full ten minutes before airing new details which had come to hand, namely that the star of The Fly and Jurassic Park was considerably less dead than originally feared.
The official, pissed-off word came on Twitter from Kevin Spacey.
RT @KevinSpacey: Jeff Goldblum is alive and well. I just spoke to his manager. Stop these stupid rumors.
Twitter is currently a moshpit. Here’s a sample of tweets from the Day of the Dead, ranging from the tasteless to the informative to the indignant…
@dfg77 Richard Wilkins credibility is DEAD! (I jest, that happened years ago)
Trish1981Gah, now when Jeff Goldblum really DOES die, no one is going to believe it!
@kristieraeofsunBreaking News….MY BANK ACCOUNT IS DEAD!!!!
@GaryJBusey First Farrah Fawcett, now Michael Jackson? That’s 2 famous white women in 1 day!
@penbo: Kim Beazley will issue a statement paying tribute to Jackson Browne
@annabelcrabb Grave fears held for the Lithgow Flash
@bhakthi(via @simonlilburn) It’s the starpocalypse
@cazbar82 Journalism is dead. RT @CherylFehlberg: Channel 9 is now saying that they are checking into reports about Jeff Goldblum
@polwar13maybe Michael Jackson has faked his own death to get out of the media spotlight….?
@jorcervanRT @iheartchaos: RIP michael jackson, you weird, weird bastard
@TwitWilloLarry King drops special Farrah Fawcett program for Michael Jackson night.. again poor Farrah!
@clubwah: It’s been announced that Michael Jackson’s body will be melted down to make plastic toys so kids can play with him for a change
@SEOAly: If you can’t find the decency to have respect for the dead, at least have empathy for their loved ones’ loss & shut the fuck up.
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RT @JoshuaWithers: Have you seen the Australian version of Breaking bad? He get's cancer and Medicare covers his costs and the series ends.
Hell, your name is Excel and Powerpoint.
Great fun yarn by @the_mattyoung and @DebKillalea. What the hell annoys you about the evening commute? http://t.co/Eyi82lHiBQ
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