The power and influence of Scientology and Travolta will probably prevent many media sources from exploring the many troubling detalis of this death and the boy's health condition and care. I'm glad Gawker is being brave enough to ask questions. Examining negligence and religiously motivated unwise behavior in this case could help avert the suffering of other young people.
So what if Travolta might be gay? Would there be something wrong with that if he were? Have a problem with homosexuals?
So what if they have a male nanny? Is there no such thing as a male nanny?
So what if they're into Scientology? It's a religion you may not agree with and think is ridiculous? Fine. Noone likes your religion either, and it's just as absurd. Scientology does not make Travolta a bad person.
So what if the male nanny happens to be the one that found the body? Does this somehow make it a conspiracy? Who else was supposed to find the poor boy?
What business of ours is any of this?! Holy shit! These people lost their SON!
Well maybe everyone can call in one of their bat signals. Seems Jett had been on anti seizure medication for years but was taken off of it due to liver damage. Apparently he was having many seizures a week. I would guess taking anti seizure medication would possibly be against Scientology's teachings so perhaps the Travolta's really were doing the best they could with a bad condition.
I'm not really seeing the giant conspiracy theories here that everyone else is. Breaking news is most often full of revisions and misstatements, I see the "changes in the story" more as truly knowledgeable and authorized people are clarifying the incident from initial mis and partial information. If I'm wrong, so be it.
Who cares about John Travolta. This is not about him, his wife, scientology, rumor, gossip, or what YOU believe someone elses life is. This is about his son that has suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Have some respect for that! Keep what you think about John, his wife, his religion, or any of his other beliefs that you might not agree with, and morn with the family that has lost someone way too soon. I hate that we have come to a point in our lives that we would rather speculate about someone rather than comfort someone.
I dunno. I don't ask much from Gawker, but over-arching thoughts that show the knowledge or existence of more than one stance/point of view (even if in mocking) would be nice. This is just too laden with rumor, conjecture, and speculation.
Confusion and a Scientology smoking gun just isn't enough.
Personally, I think Scientology is batty as hell. But I don't know enough about it to just go along with "Jett Travolta died, must be Scientology's fault." And honestly even if they find these parents were advised to treat their son with a medication they didn't agree with for whatever reason, does it mean Scientology should be instantly dismantled, because a parent made an error in judgment that had tragic results? People, parents or not, aren't infallible. Everything is up to interpretation. You do the best for your kids based upon your belief system. Some parents don't believe in certain vaccinations, others believe only herbals, alternative, or non western remedies cure ailments, which may be the reason why some people in other countries live decades longer than westerners who feed the pharmaceutical companies for drugs that cause cancer and other fatal diseases. Hell, too much Advil can cause digestive disorders and kidney failure.
Some speculate he had autism, a condition for which parents often hire expert caregivers. Instead...
It's just as plausible, I think, that Jett may have had either mild autism or some other sort of learning disability that didn't require an "expert caregiver," but rather a part-time assistant who could be handy when neither parent was available -- in other words, someone who was part babysitter and part personal assistant. In a case like that, expertise is perhaps less important than the comfort level in the relationship.
I do recall, however, that when Heath Ledger died, Gawker was full of conspiracy theories about masseuses specially trained to sanitize apartments of cocaine residue, because obviously Ledger had to have OD'ed at a drug-fueled orgy. The simpler but less lurid suggestion that perhaps he simply mixed prescription sleeping aids incautiously was laughed to scorn.
@La Cieca: There are many people who were close to Ledger who would tell you the official version of events was pretty white-washed, and there was a lot more to it than someone simply going to sleep and not waking up.
@La Cieca Piss off. I see "stop being an asshole to strangers you know nothing about" didn't make it onto your 2009 Resolution List.
If you're happy to believe the stories that publicists and other interested parties sell to you and to the entertainment media conglomerates who have a vested interest in how well movies sell and how movie stars are perceived, good on you. Enjoy your white-washed fairytales.
@La Cieca: Everytime I do you tell me I'm a lunatic, so why should I?
As tiresomely insulting as you are, you always struck me as too intelligent to believe the many PR fantasies put out there by spin doctors and movie studios whose only concern is how much money there is to be made. Everyone in the film industry knew of Heath Ledger's problems for years -- his own spouse had tried fruitlessly to get him into rehab, and his refusal to go is why she booted him out.
What more would you like? The names and phone numbers of friends who worked with him on film sets and partied with him at the Toronto film festival til eight in the morning?
Why would you think you had a clue what I know? You don't even know who I am or what I do.
And a bigger question: why are you such an asshole?
@Trixie from Toronto: There are few things more tedious than people who insist they are right because they know stuff you don't know, but then mysteriously clam up when asked to offer some concrete proof for their assertions.
All you have said is, "Oh, if you knew what I know, and if you knew who I was, then you'd believe me." Well, I don't know what you know (because you refuse to tell anyone what that actually is) and I don't know who you are because you deliberately choose to remain anonymous.
Fine, keep your secrets, but don't expect me to accept any arguments based on information you deliberately don't share. (And remember, you're the one making assertions about the mysterious circumstances of Heath Ledger's death. I'm the Occam's Razor guy.)
@La Cieca: So by concrete proof you'd actually like me to post people's names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses on an Internet message board so that I can satisfy a nasty, anonymous opera freak's need to know. I get it.
I wasn't in any way saying "I know something you don't know." I was just alerting you to the reality that the stories we get fed by PR people and grieving families and movie studios are very often bullshit, something I would have assumed you'd be smart enough to figure out. Apparently not. In my line of work, I have discovered that most of them are, in fact, bullshit. But movie studios, agents and PR machines are very powerful entities.
So there you have it. You still can't answer the question, though: Why are you always such a relentlessly nasty prick?
And as for nothing being more boring than lazy thinking, uh, yeah. That's my whole point. Don't be such a fucking lemming.
@Trixie from Toronto: You are the one who brought up PR stories. I said, from the beginning, that there were wild lurid stories being guessed at here among Gawker commenters -- stories that eventually turned out to be untrue according to the autopsy and police reports. My point was that in a gossipy environment, people will latch on to unlikely and even illogical explanations if they happen to fit into preconceived notions. Specifically, since Ledger was (assumed to be) a total druggy mess, then the assumption was that he had to have died of some spectacular overdose of recreational drugs, preferably in a suicidal gesture. Lots and lots of commenters here were saying they were sure that was how it must have been, and ever detail (e.g., the masseuse's calls to the Olsen) must be interpreted in the light of the lurid assumption.
As it turned out, the truth as we common mortals were allowed to see it was somewhat more mundane: an incautious overdose of prescription medication. You volunteered the opinion that we were not told the whole truth, and then you proceeded defensively to refuse to provide a particle of information that might support your opinion. My conclusion, again based on Occam's Razor, is that you want people to believe you are important and connected and so you hint that you have information too earth-shattering to share.
I grant you your general assertion that lots of unflattering stuff gets covered up for celebrities. What I don't grant is your conclusion that there must have been a coverup in the investigation of Ledger's death. (And, by extension, I continue to insist that Jett Travolta's death was most likely either purely accidental or else stemming from human failure that was at most tangentially related to Scientology or the identity of his caregiver.)
@La Cieca: Yes, that's right. I wanted people to believe I am important and well-connected. That's why I'm here under A FAKE NAME, asshole. Why the hell would I care what you or anyone else with a goofy made-up handle and avatar thinks of my connections? Jesus, you are daft in addition to being a lemming.
I know of no cover-up about Ledger's death, but it wasn't simply a guy went to bed one night with a cold, mixed up too many drugs and died. There was a long history of abuse and some suggestion of very recent abuse, and certain details were kept from the media thanks to his family, his lawyer, his agent and the studio.
Get off your high horse. You show your ass all the time in here by insulting and attacking anyone who says something you disagree with.
@La Cieca: What is wrong with you, seriously? Did someone not love you enough? You have issues, man. Opera should have helped you, not turned you into a nasty little prick. Maria Callas would be so turned off.
You can all bitch and moan until the bovines amble home but it is a bona fide, gold-plated, valid news story.
John Travolta let an unqualified wedding photographer look after his autistic child. The fact that this man and his wife were doing this in the capacity of ''nanny'' predicates that there was a need for a nanny. The fact that there was a baby monitor means that there was cause for concern.
The fact that John Travolta didn't see fit to provide his child with the best medical care because his religion prohibits it, is the issue here. And if it blows a hole the size of America's national debt in the scam that is Scientology, thank fucking the god of Fuck.
A child dying is horrendous, always. But to place a child, especially a vulnerable child, in a situation where his safety is negligible is also horrendous and in this case, it's compounded by the fact that money, influence and power are no object.
If you're going to wade through shit to get to the problem, don't expect to come out clean.
And if you're watching it happen because you want to see what that problem is, expect to whiff a bit at the end of the day.
Earnest button off. I'm now going to get some beer goggles on and shag the nearest biological entity I can find.
I used to like reading the comments here. Too much bullshit fighting in between the actual clever/funny ones. Please EXECUTE someone Gawker! We need to set standards again.
@LVP: Yes, but if their parents' weirdo religious beliefs result in their untimely and premature deaths, uhhhhh, sorry, that's a story that cannot and should not be off-limits.
I don't think this is the best way to interject a little harmless gossip into the mix. Not the right story for this, too fresh, too many tragic elements, not enough other posts in your weekend of varying genres to compensate for this one, letting it fade into the daily slough. A cheap way to gain pageviews. And honestly, Owen, this would be tough for a Gawk veteran, but perhaps others would know when to walk away. I think you should move on, dig deeper into that weekend well.
And I don't think the commenters are spewing arbitrary vitriol in your direction. I know Gawker is known for snarking the controversial, but Travolta was generally well-liked. Didn't really flaunt his Scientology, stayed pretty much in his own lane, kept any flip-outs (if there were any) to a minimum, so this is why this just feels a little mean. Essentially you got the impression that he loved his kids and family, was one of Oprah's (the saint) close friends, and just loved to act and fly planes. This is still a tragedy, and there will be enough media out there to make it a sideshow, Gawker doesn't have to join those ranks. Seems silly and superfluous. There are plenty of confirmed douches out there. What's John Mayer doing these days...something douchey I bet. Have we really gone an entire week without Spencer Pratt letting a douche nugget fall from his lips? I think not.
I really wanted to ignore this shit, and your crappy writing, Owen, but...
I get a fucking ADVERTISEMENT popping up over the picture telling me I have won a prize if I click here?!? I know times are tough, but come on. This sucks.
01/05/09
The picture does seem to support her assertion.
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
So what if they have a male nanny? Is there no such thing as a male nanny?
So what if they're into Scientology? It's a religion you may not agree with and think is ridiculous? Fine. Noone likes your religion either, and it's just as absurd. Scientology does not make Travolta a bad person.
So what if the male nanny happens to be the one that found the body? Does this somehow make it a conspiracy? Who else was supposed to find the poor boy?
What business of ours is any of this?! Holy shit! These people lost their SON!
01/04/09
I'm not really seeing the giant conspiracy theories here that everyone else is. Breaking news is most often full of revisions and misstatements, I see the "changes in the story" more as truly knowledgeable and authorized people are clarifying the incident from initial mis and partial information. If I'm wrong, so be it.
01/04/09
01/04/09
*applauds*
01/04/09
Confusion and a Scientology smoking gun just isn't enough.
Personally, I think Scientology is batty as hell. But I don't know enough about it to just go along with "Jett Travolta died, must be Scientology's fault." And honestly even if they find these parents were advised to treat their son with a medication they didn't agree with for whatever reason, does it mean Scientology should be instantly dismantled, because a parent made an error in judgment that had tragic results? People, parents or not, aren't infallible. Everything is up to interpretation. You do the best for your kids based upon your belief system. Some parents don't believe in certain vaccinations, others believe only herbals, alternative, or non western remedies cure ailments, which may be the reason why some people in other countries live decades longer than westerners who feed the pharmaceutical companies for drugs that cause cancer and other fatal diseases. Hell, too much Advil can cause digestive disorders and kidney failure.
Bottom Line: We Don't Really Know Anything.
01/04/09
Looks like the story's changing. The lawyer is spinning hard....
01/04/09
Some speculate he had autism, a condition for which parents often hire expert caregivers. Instead...
It's just as plausible, I think, that Jett may have had either mild autism or some other sort of learning disability that didn't require an "expert caregiver," but rather a part-time assistant who could be handy when neither parent was available -- in other words, someone who was part babysitter and part personal assistant. In a case like that, expertise is perhaps less important than the comfort level in the relationship.
I do recall, however, that when Heath Ledger died, Gawker was full of conspiracy theories about masseuses specially trained to sanitize apartments of cocaine residue, because obviously Ledger had to have OD'ed at a drug-fueled orgy. The simpler but less lurid suggestion that perhaps he simply mixed prescription sleeping aids incautiously was laughed to scorn.
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
If you're happy to believe the stories that publicists and other interested parties sell to you and to the entertainment media conglomerates who have a vested interest in how well movies sell and how movie stars are perceived, good on you. Enjoy your white-washed fairytales.
01/04/09
(Easy for me to say that, because I know very well you won't, because you don't know squat.)
01/04/09
As tiresomely insulting as you are, you always struck me as too intelligent to believe the many PR fantasies put out there by spin doctors and movie studios whose only concern is how much money there is to be made. Everyone in the film industry knew of Heath Ledger's problems for years -- his own spouse had tried fruitlessly to get him into rehab, and his refusal to go is why she booted him out.
What more would you like? The names and phone numbers of friends who worked with him on film sets and partied with him at the Toronto film festival til eight in the morning?
Why would you think you had a clue what I know? You don't even know who I am or what I do.
And a bigger question: why are you such an asshole?
01/04/09
01/04/09
All you have said is, "Oh, if you knew what I know, and if you knew who I was, then you'd believe me." Well, I don't know what you know (because you refuse to tell anyone what that actually is) and I don't know who you are because you deliberately choose to remain anonymous.
Fine, keep your secrets, but don't expect me to accept any arguments based on information you deliberately don't share. (And remember, you're the one making assertions about the mysterious circumstances of Heath Ledger's death. I'm the Occam's Razor guy.)
01/04/09
01/04/09
I wasn't in any way saying "I know something you don't know." I was just alerting you to the reality that the stories we get fed by PR people and grieving families and movie studios are very often bullshit, something I would have assumed you'd be smart enough to figure out. Apparently not. In my line of work, I have discovered that most of them are, in fact, bullshit. But movie studios, agents and PR machines are very powerful entities.
So there you have it. You still can't answer the question, though: Why are you always such a relentlessly nasty prick?
And as for nothing being more boring than lazy thinking, uh, yeah. That's my whole point. Don't be such a fucking lemming.
01/04/09
As it turned out, the truth as we common mortals were allowed to see it was somewhat more mundane: an incautious overdose of prescription medication. You volunteered the opinion that we were not told the whole truth, and then you proceeded defensively to refuse to provide a particle of information that might support your opinion. My conclusion, again based on Occam's Razor, is that you want people to believe you are important and connected and so you hint that you have information too earth-shattering to share.
I grant you your general assertion that lots of unflattering stuff gets covered up for celebrities. What I don't grant is your conclusion that there must have been a coverup in the investigation of Ledger's death. (And, by extension, I continue to insist that Jett Travolta's death was most likely either purely accidental or else stemming from human failure that was at most tangentially related to Scientology or the identity of his caregiver.)
01/04/09
I know of no cover-up about Ledger's death, but it wasn't simply a guy went to bed one night with a cold, mixed up too many drugs and died. There was a long history of abuse and some suggestion of very recent abuse, and certain details were kept from the media thanks to his family, his lawyer, his agent and the studio.
Get off your high horse. You show your ass all the time in here by insulting and attacking anyone who says something you disagree with.
01/04/09
Nice straw man. Too bad nobody said it was "simply" anything of the kind.
Now, go back into shrieking attack mode, which inside sources tell me you do so well.
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
John Travolta let an unqualified wedding photographer look after his autistic child. The fact that this man and his wife were doing this in the capacity of ''nanny'' predicates that there was a need for a nanny. The fact that there was a baby monitor means that there was cause for concern.
The fact that John Travolta didn't see fit to provide his child with the best medical care because his religion prohibits it, is the issue here. And if it blows a hole the size of America's national debt in the scam that is Scientology, thank fucking the god of Fuck.
A child dying is horrendous, always. But to place a child, especially a vulnerable child, in a situation where his safety is negligible is also horrendous and in this case, it's compounded by the fact that money, influence and power are no object.
If you're going to wade through shit to get to the problem, don't expect to come out clean.
And if you're watching it happen because you want to see what that problem is, expect to whiff a bit at the end of the day.
Earnest button off. I'm now going to get some beer goggles on and shag the nearest biological entity I can find.
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
And I don't think the commenters are spewing arbitrary vitriol in your direction. I know Gawker is known for snarking the controversial, but Travolta was generally well-liked. Didn't really flaunt his Scientology, stayed pretty much in his own lane, kept any flip-outs (if there were any) to a minimum, so this is why this just feels a little mean. Essentially you got the impression that he loved his kids and family, was one of Oprah's (the saint) close friends, and just loved to act and fly planes. This is still a tragedy, and there will be enough media out there to make it a sideshow, Gawker doesn't have to join those ranks. Seems silly and superfluous. There are plenty of confirmed douches out there. What's John Mayer doing these days...something douchey I bet. Have we really gone an entire week without Spencer Pratt letting a douche nugget fall from his lips? I think not.
01/04/09
01/04/09
Mess with Xenu and you'll never be orange in that town again!
01/04/09
I get a fucking ADVERTISEMENT popping up over the picture telling me I have won a prize if I click here?!? I know times are tough, but come on. This sucks.
01/04/09
Or, it could just be that I have Firefox set to block pop-ups.
01/04/09
Denton must really love me, or he thinks I'm bored. I need ringtones, computer games, and I have won a (booby) prize.
01/04/09
01/04/09
01/04/09