Especially surprising in that The Great Leader was the embodiment of God on Earth!
Michael Jackson’s death made headlines because he was an international household name probably second only to Jesus Christ in terms of celebrity. I don’t think it’s possible to overestimate his fame. Little kids who were born decades after his prime still routinely mimic the moonwalk and sing his songs. In contrast, there’s Elvis, who died the year I was born. Me and most of my peers are completely indifferent to him, never tried to dance like him, and I couldn’t come up with any lyrics to his songs if you held a gun to my head.
Around the time of MJ’s death, I was in Ethiopia and people who barely had access to electricity and running water were all a-buzz about it. It’s hard to imagine any other foreigner having that kind of effect, except maybe Obama. I doubt English royalty comes anywhere near Obama’s celebrity in the 3rd world. Mitt Romney? Bwhahahahaha, that is so funny. Bono would be a big deal, but I can’t imagine too many poor, geographically-isolated subsistence farmers in rural NoWhere would care that much about him.
So Obama is the only person I can think of that stands the chance of rivaling MJ’s press.
I think Muhammed Ali might be up there with MJ for international recognition.
Yes, but he hasn’t been in the news for decades. Plus, he’s an old guy with Parkinson’s, so it’s not like folks will be shocked if he died.
There are also plenty of 20-somethings and younger who know nothing about him.
What’s with Michael Jordan? Isn’t he some basketball player from the 90s? Why do you think he would be bigger news than the freaking Queen of England?
Probably not world-wide, but in the US, definitely.
He just seems so random. Michael Phelps is much younger and his success is largely current, and he achieved his greatest successes on an international stage. Wouldn’t he be a more obvious candidate than Michael Jordan?
I’m guessing there’s something about Michael Jordan I’m missing. It just seems like such a random choice to me. Third biggest celebrity death imaginable? He wouldn’t have been in the top 50 people I could think of.
Basketball is about a thousand times more popular than swimming. Every great basketball player today is sooner or later compared to Jordan, and they are usually found lacking.
Then there are the continuing commercial endorsements. Jordan’s face is still on TV every single day. Michael Phelps doesn’t have even a fraction of the visibility.
Sport in general is a closed book to me, and I live outside the US so I’m way out of my depth here. It was just so jarringly incongruous to me. 1) The most powerful man in the world
2) The man challenging him
3) Random basketball player from two decades ago.
It was like seeing, say, Linda Hamilton listed. Sure, she’s famous enough that I know her name but she’s not at the pinnacle of her career anymore and she’s not as young as she used to be. It would make the evening news, but not as the lead story.
I didn’t realise Michael Jordan’s fame was so enduring.
For some reason Arnold Schwarzenegger is the first one that popped into my mind. Probably just because he’s in a ton of movies I like. Of course, some younger celebrity like Taylor Swift or Kristen Stewert or somebody would probably be much more shocking to most people.
Listen, I don’t think the coverage of Jordan’s unexpected death would be anything near the coverage if Obama or Romney dies. OTOH, Jordan is anything but a “…random basketball player from two decades ago.” He is, arguably, the greatest basketball player in history. I would his fame would be more like Babe Ruth (do you know who Ruth is?) – though only time will tell if his fame is so lasting.
And I’ve been thinking that maybe Jordan’s media frenzy wouldn’t be as big as the Queen’s either, not because of relative fame, but because of the pomp and circumstance that (we Americans expect) would surround a Royal funeral. Now, I don’t have any idea whether a memorial and funeral for a Queen would be on the scale as the last couple of Royal weddings have been, but I have to admit Americans eat that shit up.
But could the Queen, on her best day, do a slam dunk? No!
Has Michael Jordan ever parachuted out of a helicopter? No!
The queen has?
It’s a pretty safe bet that QEII’s funeral will be quite the occasion. There’s not been a State funeral since Churchill died, although Diana’s was pretty close I guess. I don’t think Thatcher will (or should) get one.
Yes, at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, accompanied by James Bond. 
The good news about a funeral is that, unlike a wedding, there won’t be weeks and months of specials about the preparations preceding it… maybe. Would the Brits be willing to put the old girl on ice for a while so the media can produce a few days worth of human-interest puff pieces?
Moving this to Cafe Society, from IMHO.
You are really funny.
A true talent.
I’m totally serious.
Following that logic, the biggest news would be made if L.A. ever got nuked. Hundreds of celebs would die.
That’d be a funny story:
"Today we saw the deaths of numerous of our favorite celebrities – George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, and both Brad and Angelina, just to name a few. Our world will never be the same.
In other news, Los Angeles was destroyed by a nuclear explosion…"