Celebrity Deaths

[coolerifyoudid]

With the recent sudden death of Kobe Bryant, I was wondering how CF handles celebrity deaths. Every person deals with death differently, and some celebrities do things that resonate more personally with us. Circumstances of the deaths come into play, as well as age.

Personally, I rarely get too affected by a famous person's death. I don't have the same connection that others do. Maybe if I had some personal story with someone it would be different, but otherwise I'm mostly detached. As a dad, I tend to get more empathetic towards the kids left behind than anything.

How do others on here react? Has there been a certain death that hit home more than others? Was there a reason?

The first and most powerful celebrity death I really recall was watching Christa McAuliffe perish during the Challenger disaster on tv during grade school. Our teacher absolutely broke down and was inconsolable. I can still picture the whole event clearly.

 

[pulse]

My friends and I like to have a Dead Pool every year so....

 

[Tre4ISU]

I feel bad because they just don't bother me much. I suppose maybe if it happened to Tiger Woods who was a force from when I was 10 and was involved in a sport I'm most interested in it may be different. The sad part, to me about the Kobe tragedy is his daughter and family. The thing that hit me hard yesterday was when ABC said all 4 of his daughters were on board. That shot me directly to his wife who would now have lost everything. That hit me. I guess the only thing that makes sense is that these things happen to normal people every day so it just makes sense that once in awhile it'll happen to a celebrity.

I remember where I was for two deaths. Princess Diana and Dale Earnhardt. Princess Dianna because it was such a huge deal and Earnhardt because I was watching.

 

[Drew0311]

I saw people saying they were trying not to cry and for some reason I feel like maybe I am a serial killer since I have zero emotion when a celeb dies. Like I guess I feel bad for the kids and stuff but I don't really have emotion. Maybe if like Georges Niang or someone like that died who I personally had a connection with it would be different.

 

[cyclonedave25]

Pretty much zero affect on my end. I have no connection to them. Yes, they are sad, but I don’t personally feel any sadness. I think maybe the only time I ever felt sad was when Chris Kyle was killed. (If you even count him as a celebrity) And that sadness was felt during the end of the movie watching the actual funeral clips, not when it was first announced.

 

[CyCrazy]

I don't get affected by them at all.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I don’t get caught up in it. No emotions. Especially for people that choose to ride in helicopters for non-military/rescue/coast guard purposes. Death traps. There’s a crash every 6 months it seems like.

but in general these celibrity deaths are too far away. Now when Johnny died, I was sad, but I didn’t like break down or cry or anything. And I think I was more sad that one of the biggest parts of my childhood was gone forever. At the same time I was so glad I went to that Michigan where one of my heroes was the coach and another hero was coming out to be recognized one last time at the temple.

 

[Angie]

I think the definition of mourning is somewhat the question.

When Tom Petty, David Bowie, Prince all died - it made me sad that so much talent was leaving the world with each of them. It's super-sad when they're actually good people, on top of the talent. I'm not sure that's "mourning" - I didn't cry or anything. It's just realizing that there is a little less... sparkle in the world without someone?

 

[Colorado]

+1 in the group that is, if anything, only lightly affected.

My first experience with this was in the dungeon of Ross Hall when Kurt Cobain offed himself. One guy came into class totally despondent and sad. I had no reaction other than "bummer, he made good music."

And we just had a conversation with our junior in HS. She is seeing all kinds of reactions on her feeds to the Kobe news and she can't help but ask what it's all about and why people are so upset.

 

[Fitzy]

The celebrity death I've felt most affected by was Robin Williams, just because through his comedy he brought direct joy to so many people, yet with his suicide it became apparent he wasn't happy with his own life for one reason or another. It's a sobering thought that someone so talented, who spent their entire career making people laugh and feel good, wasn't right with himself at the end.

 

[cyfanatic]

When Springsteen goes...I will be sad...but he is 70 so it wouldn't necessarily strike me the same way as it might if I were a "superfan" of someone much younger that passes away. I think the circumstances of the passing really impacts how a death of a celebrity makes me feel...the thing that gets in my head about Kobe (who I was not a fan of) was that his daughter was with him...horrific!

 

[Dandy]

I don’t get caught up in it. No emotions. Especially for people that choose to ride in helicopters for non-military/rescue/coast guard purposes. Death traps. There’s a crash every 6 months it seems like.

but in general these celibrity deaths are too far away. Now when Johnny died, I was sad, but I didn’t like break down or cry or anything. And I think I was more sad that one of the biggest parts of my childhood was gone forever. At the same time I was so glad I went to that Michigan where one of my heroes was the coach and another hero was coming out to be recognized one last time at the temple.

He had a good reason... LA traffic hurt his family time.

 

[Dandy]

How I deal with celebrity deaths is mostly remember where I was when I found out. Robin Williams I was running on a treadmill in our apartment gym and the breaking news story came across CBS. When we killed Bin Laden I was in my college apartment and it was my buddy's mom who texted him and told him to turn the tv on to CNN.

 

[CycloneVet]

I don’t get caught up in it. No emotions. Especially for people that choose to ride in helicopters for non-military/rescue/coast guard purposes. Death traps. There’s a crash every 6 months it seems like.

but in general these celibrity deaths are too far away. Now when Johnny died, I was sad, but I didn’t like break down or cry or anything. And I think I was more sad that one of the biggest parts of my childhood was gone forever. At the same time I was so glad I went to that Michigan where one of my heroes was the coach and another hero was coming out to be recognized one last time at the temple.

I was sad with Johnny too. I was so happy I got to meet him in Johnnys at the Michigan game before he passed.

 

[istater7]

If Kobe had died twenty years later, even in the same fashion, I probably wouldn’t have felt the same sadness. But the suddenness of it, his young age, and the fact that his daughter was with him made this so much different. It seemed like he still had so much more to give to his girls, basketball, and the world in general. Growing up in the early 2000s where Kobe was the guy for our generation made the impact even more substantial for me personally. I wasn’t even a Laker fan or a huge fan of Kobe, but the most memorable NBA game I have ever watched was his 61 point performance in his final game. He had such a big impact on the game that I love. The “connection” to a person and the way that they pass away certainly plays a big role in how I feel about a celebrity’s death.

 

[heitclone]

I don't usually care much, Kobe is a really weird scenario, I never liked him or the Lakers, I haven't cried or anything like that but this one bummed me out. I think this one just hits harder for several reasons.

For one, I am the same age as Kobe, I've been a huge sports fan my entire life, was a gym rat type of kid growing up who was obsessed with basketball, I had followed Kobe since he was 14. He was an icon of my generation, for years I tuned in to SC to see what Kobe did that night. It's just kind of surreal he is dead. Having other things in common wit him like a young family, I have a young family, stuff like that just makes it hit home to me for whatever reason.

The biggest thing though is, Kobe changed how I watched sports. Growing up and well into adulthood, I was just as passionate rooting against teams/players I didn't like as I was for the teams I supported. About 10 years ago, something clicked, maybe I matured, idk but I kind of turned a corner for guys like Kobe. I hate the Lakers but something about getting to see someone at the pinnacle of what they do made me start to respect him and instead of wishing him to lose, I was grateful for however many games I got to watch this amazing athlete perform. I have similar views of Brady, Peyton and Lebron. I don't really root for them but IMO it's hard to justify yourself a sports fan and not enjoying watching the greatest to ever play the game. I watch those type of players every chance I get because once they're gone, they're gone.


It's really odd, I don't think I've ever really taken a celebrity death too hard but this one is staying with me. There are probably some other athlete's musicians that will be similar but this is honestly the first time I've spent more than a few minutes thinking about something like this.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I don't usually care much, Kobe is a really weird scenario, I never liked him or the Lakers, I haven't cried or anything like that but this one bummed me out. I think this one just hits harder for several reasons.

For one, I am the same age as Kobe, I've been a huge sports fan my entire life, was a gym rat type of kid growing up who was obsessed with basketball, I had followed Kobe since he was 14. He was an icon of my generation, for years I tuned in to SC to see what Kobe did that night. It's just kind of surreal he is dead. Having other things in common wit him like a young family, I have a young family, stuff like that just makes it hit home to me for whatever reason.

The biggest thing though is, Kobe changed how I watched sports. Growing up and well into adulthood, I was just as passionate rooting against teams/players I didn't like as I was for the teams I supported. About 10 years ago, something clicked, maybe I matured, idk but I kind of turned a corner for guys like Kobe. I hate the Lakers but something about getting to see someone at the pinnacle of what they do made me start to respect him and instead of wishing him to lose, I was grateful for however many games I got to watch this amazing athlete perform. I have similar views of Brady, Peyton and Lebron. I don't really root for them but IMO it's hard to justify yourself a sports fan and not enjoying watching the greatest to ever play the game. I watch those type of players every chance I get because once they're gone, they're gone.


It's really odd, I don't think I've ever really taken a celebrity death too hard but this one is staying with me. There are probably some other athlete's musicians that will be similar but this is honestly the first time I've spent more than a few minutes thinking about something like this.

This is a good post. It’s hard for me as a person that was in their prime youth during the Jordan glory years to care about Kobe while people that came up during the Kobe years would feel much differently.

 

[cycloner29]

I was watching the Daytona 500 when Dale Sr. died. I just remember watching the TV for like 5 hours after the race. It was sad to watch the ambulance head to the hospital with not a lot of urgency, you knew it was bad.

 

[Dr.bannedman]

jim lahey:

 

[NWICY]

Main two celebs I felt bad about passing on are both tied to ISU athletics Johnny and Pete Taylor. Listened to hours of Pete calling games either in the pick up, tractor, or in the barn growing up. Even though I never knew Pete he was the voice I always recognized and the way he announced it was like you got to know him. I got to meet Johnny a couple of times but his association with ISU BB for me just was complete.

Johnny's death wasn't so bad because of his age but Pete's was too soon IMO.