Does the Public Benefit
from Celebrity Death Photos?
AolNews.com
by DAVID MOYE
(June 10) -- Photos like the deathbed image of Gary Coleman that Globe magazine is printing on its front page are awful to look at, but do they also tell us a lot about that celebrity ... and our twisted culture?
Depends on who you ask -- and which celebrity is pictured.
Burt Kearns, the former managing editor of "Hard Copy" and "A Current Affair," is the first to admit that deathbed and after-death photos like the ones showing John Lennon at the morgue, Elvis Presley at his funeral or paramedics trying to revive Michael Jackson are "distasteful" and "invasive."
Still, Kearns thinks that in Coleman's case, the photos may ultimately benefit the actor.
"As ugly as they are, they do serve a purpose," Kearns said. "It's easy to criticize the Globe -- as the hypocritical TMZ is doing -- but the photos do present a fuller picture of the ex-wife who sold them. Not only do the photos show Coleman in a heart-wrenching state, but she's in it! This paints a picture of what he was going through."
Kearns says that in the years after "Diff'rent Strokes" went off the air, Coleman became an "angry, cantankerous young man" who griped that people are bad and that he couldn't trust them.
"This is another example of the exploitation he complained about," Kearns said. "Gary Coleman died for our sins."
Although the Globe is being criticized for purchasing the photos, Kearns says it's telling that the headline reads "It Was Murder!"
"It just raises more attention to the fact that ex-wife Shannon Price pulled the plug on him -- something that she may have not had the right to do."
Still, Kearns is fascinated by the way Globe editors are trying to weasel their way out of controversy.
"There seems to be a dividing line between a 'deathbed photo' or an 'after-death photo,'" Kearns said. "The Globe is claiming it's only publishing the photos before his death."
It sounds terrible that Price would sell out Coleman's dignity for a few bucks, but Kearns says he's not the first celebrity treated in such a humiliating fashion by family members.
"When Elvis Presley died, the Enquirer was able to get the death photos by giving tiny cameras to 20 of his relatives," Kearns said. "The editors expected one or two photos at most -- and they got 20!"
Fact is, a deathbed photo is a true sign of a celebrity's iconic status -- notice the lack of celebrity death photos of Dennis Hopper or Rue McClanahan? Kearns sees another benefit: Proof of death.
"Jim Morrison and Tupac Shakur didn't have death photos and that's why some people feel they're still alive," Kearns said...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE AOL NEWS ARTICLE,"DOES THE PUBLIC BENEFIT FROM CELEBRITY DEATH PHOTOS?", BY DAVID MOYE
from Celebrity Death Photos?
AolNews.com
by DAVID MOYE
(June 10) -- Photos like the deathbed image of Gary Coleman that Globe magazine is printing on its front page are awful to look at, but do they also tell us a lot about that celebrity ... and our twisted culture?
Depends on who you ask -- and which celebrity is pictured.
Burt Kearns, the former managing editor of "Hard Copy" and "A Current Affair," is the first to admit that deathbed and after-death photos like the ones showing John Lennon at the morgue, Elvis Presley at his funeral or paramedics trying to revive Michael Jackson are "distasteful" and "invasive."
Still, Kearns thinks that in Coleman's case, the photos may ultimately benefit the actor.
"As ugly as they are, they do serve a purpose," Kearns said. "It's easy to criticize the Globe -- as the hypocritical TMZ is doing -- but the photos do present a fuller picture of the ex-wife who sold them. Not only do the photos show Coleman in a heart-wrenching state, but she's in it! This paints a picture of what he was going through."
Kearns says that in the years after "Diff'rent Strokes" went off the air, Coleman became an "angry, cantankerous young man" who griped that people are bad and that he couldn't trust them.
"This is another example of the exploitation he complained about," Kearns said. "Gary Coleman died for our sins."
Although the Globe is being criticized for purchasing the photos, Kearns says it's telling that the headline reads "It Was Murder!"
"It just raises more attention to the fact that ex-wife Shannon Price pulled the plug on him -- something that she may have not had the right to do."
Still, Kearns is fascinated by the way Globe editors are trying to weasel their way out of controversy.
"There seems to be a dividing line between a 'deathbed photo' or an 'after-death photo,'" Kearns said. "The Globe is claiming it's only publishing the photos before his death."
It sounds terrible that Price would sell out Coleman's dignity for a few bucks, but Kearns says he's not the first celebrity treated in such a humiliating fashion by family members.
"When Elvis Presley died, the Enquirer was able to get the death photos by giving tiny cameras to 20 of his relatives," Kearns said. "The editors expected one or two photos at most -- and they got 20!"
Fact is, a deathbed photo is a true sign of a celebrity's iconic status -- notice the lack of celebrity death photos of Dennis Hopper or Rue McClanahan? Kearns sees another benefit: Proof of death.
"Jim Morrison and Tupac Shakur didn't have death photos and that's why some people feel they're still alive," Kearns said...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE AOL NEWS ARTICLE,"DOES THE PUBLIC BENEFIT FROM CELEBRITY DEATH PHOTOS?", BY DAVID MOYE
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