The spin doctoring was a success, but the patient died.
Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
Brad Renfro committed suicide with illegal drugs.
Heath had a movie in the can with the potential to make truckloads of money for those involved.
Renfro's photo wasn't even shown in the montage of dead film industry people on the 2007 Oscars. (The official reason given was that there wasn't enough time to show everyone.)
There's already buzz about Heath's posthumous Oscar nom.
Have we just witnessed the invention of a politically correct way to die by one's own hand?
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How did he accidentally overdose, anyway? Was he walking across the room with a big bowl o' drugs when he slipped and a bunch of pills tumbled into his mouth as he fell? Has the amount of each drug in his bloodstream ever been released? Maybe he just took one of each and was really unlucky. I don't judge him either way-- I judge the people who feel the need to spin this loss for their own gain.
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Today's Poll: If Heath had written a suicide note, what would it say?
I think it would say, "Wait a minute--I can quit you!"
Submit your entries soon-- the winner will be heaped with scorn at a future date.
The Man in the Mirror
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Isn't it odd that the only thing Michael Jackson did for race relations was
to try to change himself from one to the other?
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5 COMMENTS-POST YOURS HERE:
Sadly, it's all the in the marketing.
It's a lot easier to market a Hollywood star who died of an "accidental" overdose. Better demographic, doncha know.
"Brad Renfro committed suicide with illegal drugs."
Wrong!! Brad Renfro did not commit suicide. He died of an ACCIDENTAL drug overdose. He relapsed, and unfortunately, that resulted in his death as the drugs were just too much of a shock to his system after being clean for awhile. He had just finished shooting The Informers, and he was looking forward to an audition on that day of his tragic death.
RIP Renfro and Ledger.
Yeah, nobody would have seen Batman if they knew Heath had committed suicide. Just like nobody will keep seeing it now that Christian Bale has been arrested.
And nobody reads Hemingway or listens to Nirvana.
Anonymous, I should have put quotes around Brad Renfro committing suicide, because that's how it was presented. Renfro's struggle was devalued and dismissed in the way it was labeled.
And, Diesel, of course I know that people are going to see the movie anyway. I'm still going to see it. I know in the larger scheme of things, it shouldn't matter what his death is called.
But it matters to me that the distinction exists as a value judgment and favors a naive view of the struggles of those with depressive illness and/or substance abuse issues. I would also argue that a judgment is being made between the acceptability of overdose on prescription drugs vs. illegal ones.
If he didn't plan on killing himself then its an accident.
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