Okay… It’s been widely believed that famous deaths always come in threes. It’s just apophenia – the tendency of human minds to see patterns where none exist. That being said, however, these three came fast and furiously: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett (nee Majors) and – as a complete shock – Michael Jackson. I say complete shock because Ed was old and Farrah had been in hospital for a while (and was on everybody’s death watch) where as Michael – while a freak of plastic surgery – had big concerts planned (though, as it’s already been joked about, he will honor his London dates, but as a Thriller zombie – @serafinowicz on Twitter got to that one first!) and with no whisper of illness – except mental.
Oops, shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but for those of us not devoted to the one time King of Pop (and I sincerely believe him to have been completely dethroned yonks ago) his later years will always be linked to jokes about his “body work”, dangling children off of balconies and his “love” of small boys. While Ed may have fallen victim to hard economic times, and Farrah may have had her nutty moments, at least they both had some sort of dignified reputation still intact. Still, there are legions of followers for Michael – possibly to religious standards – and there will be the not too unusual comparisons to Elvis, especially both having the “King” title associated with them (and Michael marrying Elvis’ daughter) we might start hearing of “Michael Jackson sightings” and theories that he faked his death.
Sadly Michael’s death will completely overshadow the passing of Farrah, who really deserves more “ink” than Michael. At least Ed got a few days in before hand, so that he could have proper tributes.