Celebrity Deaths

[ISUCubswin]

Deal with them all differently

Kobe’s has been different than most. 41, icon. Hated him as a player. Not the greatest character reputation early on.

BUT

I love basketball, he was a huge part of that, and I loved who he became post-NBA, from becoming a business man to his focus on women athletics

 

[mj4cy]

I rarely don't get too over-reactive other than "man that sucks. gone too soon" ect

However two celebrities in the last 5-6 years that made my jaw drop were Robin Williams and Kobe Bryant.

 

[mj4cy]

Deal with them all differently

Kobe’s has been different than most. 41, icon. Hated him as a player. Not the greatest character reputation early on.

BUT

I love basketball, he was a huge part of that, and I loved who he became post-NBA, from becoming a business man to his focus on women athletics

Yeah he had a really good moral turnaround from the accounts I've read. Kind of a good reminder that we all have our flaws/demons/skeletons but doesn't define has horrible humna beings and there is the opportunity to better ourselves. If only this next political season could reflect that.

 

[SaraV]

I believe the other factor in all the coverage of Kobe's death is that he was getting mentioned alllllll over sports TV/radio as Lebron was going to pass him as 3rd in career points. Lebron passes the mark on Saturday night, and probably less than 12 hours later, the news breaks that Kobe has died in a helicopter crash. It's just extremely odd/unfortunate timing.

One celebrity death that weirdly hit me more than usual was John Ritter. Never watched Three's Company (was too young), and didn't watch 8 Rules... It was just that his death was so sudden (heart defect?), and it was someone that had a leading role on a current sitcom. I just remember thinking "Ohhh man, that REALLY sucks." But, I was probably over it the next day.

In general, I think how we react to celebrity deaths depends on 1) How famous they are/what impact did they have in their field on the city/state/country/world, 2) Age, 3) Manner of death. Kobe had an impact worldwide when it came to basketball, he was 41, and he died in a terrible accident. Trifecta right there.

 

[ForbinsAscynt]

A musician by the name of Jeff Austin, who passed this summer, probably hit me more than any big name celebrity. I saw him perform more times than I could count and met him a few times.

 

[alarson]

I dont think there's anything all that abnormal about a celebrity death affecting someone who didnt know them personally. Whether you knew each other or not, just like a friend that celebrity may have brought a little bit of happiness into your living room an hour or two at a time for years on end. Maybe it was through a tv show, maybe it was through their sports career. It seems ok to be affected by the loss of someone who brought you that feeling.

As someone who isnt really an NBA fan, Kobe didnt affect me all that much. Robin WIlliams felt much more sad to me. Someone like Patrick Stewart, when he someday goes, will have an affect on me (and why i'm so glad we're getting some more time with Picard)

 

[CloneGuy8]

We don't know these people, but it sure feels like we do. We have watched them entertain us for years, so naturally it affects many people when they're suddenly taken from us. Especially for Kobe who was so young, and this was just so unexpected.

 

[MeanDean]

A lot of it is generational. And what level of fandom you had for the person.

For me the biggest was John Lennon. Only 40 and murdered. Just when he was returning to recording. And of course I was and am a huge Beatles fan so that was a huge factor. And I had literally just graduated from ISU so between school and first job.

As far as Kobe I don't follow pro basketball at all. Had he played college I would have at least been familiar with his history but as it is, I only just knew the name and reputation as a general sports follower but not NBA.

I was even commenting that I really didn't even know what he looked like. You could have lined up 5 random NBA players and I would not have been able to pick him out.

 

[bellzisu]

I've remembered where I was when I heard about someone famous dying. Earnhardt I watched live.

I still think the one that struck me the hardest was Chris Street. I was a fan of Iowa and Iowa State growing up. I was in 6th grade when it happened. He was my favorite player. Same first name. I wore #40 in elementary, jr high, and high school.

It was just so sudden and he had such a promising future ahead of him.

 

[Beernuts]

A local celebrity that hit me when he passed was Mark Pearson. He was the voice of agriculture in Iowa. Host of Market to Market, host of the State Fair program on IPTV, daily host of the WHO Big Show at noon.

I got to know him a little when a business I worked at hired him as a speaker. He came to the meeting looking disheveled and messy, but had the audience rolling in laughter throughout his speech. He was very intelligent and yet acted so common.

I remember the day I was listening to WHO on the radio and you could tell from the tone that something was wrong. When they announced that Mark had passed away it felt like the world lost some joy.

To me Mark was a celebrity...probably not to many others like a Kobe or Robin Williams.

 

[CapnCy]

Obviously age of death, how much i liked/followed them changes impact (shock vs expected, etc)....as an older person it usually is a "life well lived" remembrances vs shock in ones like Kobe.

They usually somewhat get me researching their lives a bit (as I hear bits on the news or read) as I get curious.

I usually am reminded that "fame/fortune" also doesn't shelter you from death and sometimes contributes to it. So, a lot of reflection of mortality and usually in the moments I try to think about the perspective of those close to the person vs "fandom"

 

[CapnCy]

What always bothers me about celebrity deaths are people who didn't know them either judge/knock them down OR elevate them to saint status (social media obviously does this).

Meaning, we all are flawed and we all are someone's hero/parent/sibling/kid.

 

[jsb]

What always bothers me about celebrity deaths are people who didn't know them either judge/knock them down OR elevate them to saint status (social media obviously does this).

Meaning, we all are flawed and we all are someone's hero/parent/sibling/kid.

this is true. Part of that though is that you learn more about them when they die. I hated the lakers and did not like Kobe mainly because of Colorado. So not much of his stuff registered with me. I didn’t watch interviews with him, etc. But over the last 2 days you’ve seen all of the good stories and I’ve listened to him talk about his kids in what appeared to be in really sincere ways. So in the end, a person would like to believe that that he became a better person. Did he? He’ll if any of us know. But that’s the hope.

 

[TexCyted]

to me figures who get murdered are the most shocking/lingering

John Lennon
Marvin Gaye
Princess Dianna (kind of killed by reckless actions of others)

Princess Dianna was tough for me as well and I had no idea who she was or why she was important. I just remember my mom crying and watching the coverage for hours. No one likes seeing their momma sad. After learning more as I got older, that was far and away the most senseless celebrity death of my lifetime.

 

[urb1]

The only celebrity death that I shed a tear over was Johnny Orr. When they showed the tribute to him before one of the games, I cried like a kid.

 

[TOFB4ISU]

When I heard a famous athlete had died, I immediately thought Hank Aaron for some reason. When I heard it was Kobe, I said "Wow", and then returned to folding laundry.

 

[cmjh10]

My ranking for the most emotion I felt when I heard about their death.

1. Robin Williams
2. Kobe
3. Alex Trebek

 

[Busch__Latte]

Mac Miller's passing still makes me sad

 

[CloneGuy8]

Wow, feels like Kobe died 2 years ago

 

[JM4CY]

Dale Earnhardt’s death didn’t effect me personally because I’m not a big race guy but I saw how it just destroyed a couple of my close friends.