When news broke that Prince died, millions of people expressed their grief over social media — and within minutes, began speculating about what killed him. Was it drugs? Was it prescription drugs? Or had he died a natural death?
The same thing happened in the days and weeks after the deaths of such celebrities as Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy and Whitney Houston. In the age of social media, a suspicion can become a rumor and then a presumed fact in the span of a few re-tweets. But is it hypocritical when people change their profile photos to honor a celebrity while simultaneously spreading wild speculation about the source of their demise?
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Less than 24 hours after the news broke, some began painting the 57-year-old’s end as another tragic tale of rock over-indulgence. TMZ claimed that his medical emergency a few days earlier was a drug overdose. KISS rocker Paul Stanley seemed to similarly imply that it was an issue with pain pills. Contradicting such reports are .. well .. pretty much everyone who actually knew Prince. His renowned parties at Paisley Park were a “no alcohol/no drugs/no swearing” zone, and even Prince’s bodyguard in the ’80s says he only saw him drink wine once — and that was the extent of his indulgences. Other reports cite some sort of “ongoing illness” that left him frail, even going so far as to say he may have had HIV. Other friends say he wasn’t sick at all.
“The thing that really bothers me about it is the Prince I know was super-healthy, vegan, wasn’t an abuser of drugs, wasn’t an abuser of alcohol,” music producer LA Reid told “Today” on Friday (April 22). “He was clean and he looked young and he looked really healthy and vibrant so the whole thing is really mysterious to me.”
In some ways, the shocking death and subsequent scramble for definition is reminiscent of Heath Ledger. It just so happened that when the actor died suddenly in January 2008, many of the entertainment industry’s top talents were at the Sundance Film Festival, thousands of miles away.
In one interview suite, a group of celebrities finished talking to press and as everyone turned their cell phones back on, a cacophony of voicemail and text alerts could be heard. With countless interviews already scheduled for the ensuing days between journalists and folks ranging from Diddy to Dennis Hopper to Charlize Theron, questions were asked — and some celebrities even offered their speculation, weeks before an autopsy yielded the truth.
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As open-minded as many would like to think the public is in 2016, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to celebrity it feels like there are three levels of mourning: Those who died unexpectedly and tragically (David Bowie, John Lennon, Alan Rickman), those who had fatal reactions to prescription medication (Ledger, Michael Jackson) and those who are seen as having died from recreational drug use (Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston). Prince is simply the latest reminder of the public’s need to place an unexpectedly-lost celebrity in one of those categories, as quickly as possible.
It particularly seems hypocritical since “entertainment” might be the only job in the world where drug use is somewhat encouraged. Entertainers who are the most free-thinking, the most manic, the most eccentric are often the ones who rise to the top of their industry — yet, when things go too far, they are quickly judged.
RELATED: ‘SNL’ honoring Prince with special episode remembering pop icon
On Friday, an autopsy was completed on the body of the seven-time Grammy winner; a toxicology scan usually takes several weeks for results. When that time comes, it seems the public will finally get their answer and Prince’s last personal days will be revealed. But regardless of the results, the question remains: Why is it so easy for people to type “rest in peace” on a social media page, but so hard for them to actually let a celebrity do it?