When Michael Jackson died unexpectedly at age 50, I racked my brain and realized there could not have been a death at that time that would have been bigger news, with the exception of Barack Obama. In my humble opinion.
Of course, I can only speak from an American perspective, but I still say Barack Obama would be #1 by a wide margin.
So the question is: who’s #2 today? Whose death would cause the biggest media frenzy in the Western world right now?
Paul McCartney? Michael Jordan?.. English Royalty?
Come to think of it, there probably is a huge difference depending on where you live. So what’s the answer in your country?
That’s good point about the circumstances. I’m supposing we largely ignore those, or it’s something along the lines of a Heath Ledger/Michael Jackson death.
(And besides, don’t you think there would be bigger headlines if Tebow died while saving children from a burning building?)
Probably a five way tie between Obama, The Pope, Tiger Woods, QEII and Madonna. If they all died in the same shoot-out, news editors would wet themselves in excitement.
The rest of the world has no idea who Tim Tebow is, and doesn’t care. Hookers and blow we have heard of.
The editors and photographers of Closer magazine are hardly celebrities. But if Kate Middleton were to wander down to their offices with a shotgun and start blasting away, that would make pretty big headlines, I’d have thought.
(I’m excluding the possibility that HM the Queen would be their visitor, because come ON, let’s not get totally ridiculous)
I dunno… I think if you’d asked this question the day before he died, very few people would have come up with “Michael Jackson” as an answer. He hadn’t been a real music star for a decade or more and even his zany personal life had mostly faded from the front of the tabloids. We’d sort of forgotten about him, but something about the timing and the manner of his death just hit a chord.
Disagree. MJ was the perfect storm, and a moment’s though would have revealed it. Living Legend. Scandals. Known Throughout the World. Too Young to Die.
You’re both right, actually. During the fervor following his death, which included hucksters on the street selling makeshift MJ memorial swag, I remember thinking,* just a couple days ago, this guy was best known as the punchline to pedophile and body dysmorphia jokes.* But it did strike a chord, even with my cynical self, I think because his tragic downfall was crystallized.
But yeah, it’s tough to think of who might elicit that Princess Di kind of reaction. Bill Clinton is pretty beloved, but there wouldn’t be that sense of wasted potential if he passed.
Maybe a humanitarian movie star like George Clooney?