i.e., someone (or perhaps two or three people) who commits suicide in front of an unsuspecting audience.
An ultra-rare event, thankfully.
Of the top of my head, the only one I can think of is Christine Chubbuck.
Any others?
Thích Quảng Đức - Vietnamese Buddhist monk who self-immolated on a street in Saigon to protest government persecution. You know the photo (if you don’t, it’s on the cover of Rage Against The Machine’s self-titled album).
I knew about this guy, but I didn’t realize that (per Wiki) it looks like he probably WAS framed for the crime, as he claimed.
The one I came in to mention. Also, the subject of Filter’s song, ‘Hey Man, Nice Shot.’
What is it with 90s rock bands and public acts of suicide?
If the audience doesn’t have to be at a theater or something like that, all the people who jump in front of a train or subway.
There was that guy, several years ago, who plunged into the river just above Niagara Falls in view of a TV crew’s camera.
ETA: Turns out it was 1985. Darn, time flies.
I was on a lake Saimaa cruise a dozen years back when a guy on a very tall bridge waved to the people on the ship and then jumped to his death. Didn’t see it personally since I was inside the ship but a few of my relatives did.
How about Kevin Whitrick, was broadcasting live to an Internet chat when he committed suicide by hanging himself.
Donald Manes, disgraced Queens borough President, committed suicide in front of his family while talking with his psychiatrist.
n/m Christine Chubbuck was mentioned in the OP.
I seem to recall a slice of footage of some guy blowing his head off with a shotgun on some freeway, live on TeeVee in the afternoon. It turned out to be part of the impetus to … something, I don’t know. Seven second delay? Or no live shots before labor day unless you’re wearing white? I can’t remember.
Anyway, I don’t really want to search for that.
Yukio Mishima?
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Michael Edward Pickels jumped from a roof onto the stage at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA during a concert. He landed near the lead singer Glen Hansard, who was performing with Marketa Irglova. They are the stars of the movie “Once,” which won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The plane hitting the South Tower on 9/11, too, but I don’t think that’s quite in the vein of what you’re looking for.
I think the incident mentioned at the bottom of this wiki is what I was thinking of: Shepard Smith Reporting
So I guess it wasn’t really the impetus for anything, other than more Shep’s twinkly eyes on TeeVee, but there was some controversy surrounding its airing.
A friend of a friend committed suicide on the roadside in Malaysia -
first buying a container of petrol from the nearby station, walking 50 metres down the road and then self immolating…