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ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
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CaptainFantastic
06/26/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
It's a photo of a man on a stretcher being wheeled into the hospital. He is alive. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. No blood. Big deal.
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quatrevingtquatre
06/26/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
So can this be the last dead person picture? I don't care if it's some Iranian girl or a fallen Pop star...I DO NOT WANT TO LOOK AT DEAD PEOPLE. I don't need photographic evidence of someone's death to make me feel sad about a particular situation nor does a picture of someone's soulless body add value to any discussion conducted by reasonable people.
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Novaload
06/26/09

@thatonegirlsays: Have you tried Cute Overload?
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Lizawithazee
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
I understand it may be hurtful to see someone you know personally in a photo like this. But I also wonder whether we've become so removed from the visceral aspects of death that showing a photo of someone at the point of death is considered so disturbing and taboo.

This isn't a modern phenomenon, BTW. It is common to do death portraits. And think of Lincoln's weeks-long funeral cortege. Not that I'm comparing MJ to Lincoln, except in the fame department.
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quatrevingtquatre
06/26/09

@Lizawithazee:
Just because a photo exists doesn't mean it needs to be shown. And perhaps this isn't a modern phenomenon, but just because something has happened previously does not mean it needs to continue.

What exactly is the purpose of publishing a picture of someone's dead body? I don't want to remember MJ laid out on a gurney with an oxygen mask and someone working at his lifeless chest. I want to remember him in the "Black or White" video or moonwalking or doing any number of other things.
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Lizawithazee
06/26/09

@thatonegirlsays: Giving people choice to view it or not would be more tasteful.

Personally, I think the purpose is to show people that the death is real. This person is really gone. That's always been the purpose of showing a body. I think that's why people search and search for any remains of a loved one "for closure," even though it's obvious the person is dead.
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Steverino Begins
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
Well, we're looking at the cover of tomorrow's New York Post.
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bjonston
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
I don't know. Not sure what the big deal is. You live in public, you die in public. That's the trade-off you make when you become a multimillion-dollar celebrity.

But if this is a debate about where we are as a society because for some reason we apparently can't resist the urge to publish and then gawk at photos of a famous dead person, then I think it's a little too late for that. I mean come on. Really? You can't have a culture that idolizes entertainers to the point that even a washed out hasbeen can still make a living on a VH-1 "reality" TV show and then act surprised when photos of the washed out has been's corpse somehow manage to sell newspapers. Nothing shocking about that.
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katekate is squared
06/25/09

@bjonston: Maybe I hoped Gawker wouldn't run it? But I'm naive, I dunno. It's just disturbing to me.
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bjonston
06/25/09

@katekate is squared: Well, I think the whole circus this society has become is disturbing. This is just another symptom of how fucking pathetic we are as a culture. But I just have to shrug it off (and if possible laugh) or else I'll be a lot less functional than I am. Is it right? I don't know.
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dippitydoo
06/26/09

@bjonston: for me it's not so much that the photo is published - it's whether or not i have a choice to view it. if it's the highlight pic of a piece i'm forced to look without having a moment to decide if i want to or not. a click through would have been nice. of course, eventually, i would have done it anyway - but i guess on my terms and my timeline would have been more appropriate for me. it's like open casket at a wake - i know it's there, but i don't have to go up and linger unless i want to.
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bjonston
06/26/09

@dippitydoo: That's a fair point. But going with your analogy a bit further, if you go to a wake you know there's going to be an open casket, with a dead body in it. So by the same logic, you go to a website called Gawker the same day a famous entertainer dies, you can't be surprised if the dead celebrity's photo is what you see when you click on that link. I just can't get worked up about that.

You don't want to see disgusting shit? Turn off the computer and unplug the TV. We live in a culture that specializes in selling shit. It's been that way for a long time now. This is just another example of the kind of shit we're up to our eyes in. But frankly, I don't see how anyone can realistically expect a site like Gawker to stay above the fray when it's very raison d'etre is serving up the fray, nice and fresh.
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katekate is squared
06/26/09

@bjonston: the whole circus this society has become is disturbing

Yeah. And I guess there's no way NOT to contribute to the circus in some way without completely disengaging from our culture. (At the moment this doesn't seem like a terrible idea, for a multitude of reasons, the least of which being this event, honestly.)

So if we're basically guaranteed tickets to the show, I guess we have to think about how we watch, which is what I'm getting at.
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bjonston
06/26/09

@katekate is squared: Exactly.
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VoxPopuli
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
Yeah, I saw this on TV - network, not CNN, mere minutes after he died. They kept showing it over and over again. Sigh.
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PopCultureIsAFarce
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
As a black person I am wondering why everyone goes to Harlem when a famous black person dies, can someone explain this to me?
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VoxPopuli
06/25/09

@PopCultureIsAFarce: Same reason they almost always send a black reporter to Harlem.
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ellagood
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
even though this is now imprinted on my brain, this is not how i will remember him.
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Pope John Peeps II
06/26/09

@ellagood: Yeah, there are a lot of things about MJ that people are very conveniently not remembering in this "mourning period".
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iplaudius
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
Actually, that’s La Toya, pre-op, being wheeled in for her thirty-first plastic surgery.

Too soon?
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cellardoor
06/25/09

@iplaudius: yes
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iplaudius
06/25/09

@cellardoor: @Adiphyte: My condolences to you, and may God be with you, and your friends and family too, to comfort you in your grief during these difficult times.
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bjonston
06/25/09

@iplaudius: Maybe. But funny.
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Weegee's bored
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
A year from now we'll find out that Michael Jackson faked his death and joined the priesthood.
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unclevanya
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
If some of the reports are to be believed, he stopped breathing at home before transport, which could mean that he's already dead in that photo.

Which would mean that it's not so much an "Exclusive Last Photo" as it is a future retraction/apology and a lawsuit in waiting.
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Xylo
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
Fuck me. Please take it down, Acadian Boy.
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katekate is squared
06/25/09

@Xylo: Seriously, this is so tasteless.
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stoprobbers
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
I went out to dinner and left my DVR on record on MTV so I could keep some videos for later. Ironic that I click on this mid-way through "Leave Me Alone."

Oh, Michael...
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katekate is squared
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
Why the fuck would you post this? I like you, Cajun Boy, but for fuck's sake, this is worse than Perez.
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ChillbearLatrigue
06/25/09

@katekate is squared: Gawker covers the media. I think it's difficult to post a story about the media showing us a tasteless photo without showing the photo itself. I would have shared your reaction had Gawker been the original procurer of this photo. I think that this will probably be the only time they post it unless new stories surrounding the photo start to surface.
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The Cajun Boy
06/25/09

@katekate is squared: I would agree with you, and I did hesitate to post it, but once the genie was out of the bottle it was done. Hell, ANDERSON COOPER SHOWED IT ON CNN! So yeah, I wouldn't run it if it were handed off to me and wasn't already all over the internet.
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The Cajun Boy
06/25/09

@ChillbearLatrigue: Thank you. Exactly.
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Samanthrax
06/25/09

@ChillbearLatrigue: @The Cajun Boy: Oh, please guys- that's bullshit and you know it. Anytime a controversial photo is leaked to the media, and one media outlet chooses to host it, all other media outlets have the option of displaying the image, linking to it, or neither. You can post the image, sure, but don't claim to be any better than anyone else because you publicly poopoo it.
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RandomLunatic
06/25/09

@Samanthrax is Sarcastic: I've seen this image everywhere at this point and think it never should have been published in the first place, but this is not worse than what Perez Hilton posted, not by a longshot.
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Samanthrax
06/25/09

@RandomLunatic: That's like saying you're a great person just because you're not a mass murderer- wanna cookie?
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Pope John Peeps II
06/26/09

@katekate is squared: So let me get this straight. It's okay to post pictures or videos of a death when that death somehow accords with your worldview? Like that Iranian girl? But posting pictures of death here is somehow qualitatively different? Death is death. You can't claim it's tasteful to post it in one place on a Gawker website, and then claim that it's not tasteful to post it somewhere else on the same network.

Where were you with this outrage before?
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Adiphyte
06/25/09

In reply to ET Claims Victory In Race For Last Photo Of Michael Jackson
What?! wow im surprised they dont just sneak in the morgue!
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Xylo
06/25/09

@Adiphyte: Just wait.
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