Welcome to the weekly Newsroom Poll, where we will give you a sneak peek into the lives and minds of some of the correspondents, writers, editors and producers here at MTVNews.com. Every week, they'll answer a poll question that will reveal some of what we talk about behind the scenes here in the newsroom. Enjoy!
The death of Michael Jackson has hit the MTV News staff pretty hard, and will continue to as we sort through the aftermath of last week's shocking news. It's been a crazy week for celebrity death, as Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, pitchman Billy Mays and actor Karl Malden have all passed away in the past week.
Dealing with death is always difficult, but the passing of a public person is surreal. How do you deal with the loss of somebody you only knew through a body of work? So we passed around this week's poll question: What's the one celebrity death that has hit you the hardest, and why? Check out the staff's answers below, and be sure to leave your own stories in the comments.
Sabrina Rojas Weiss
I was in high school when I heard that River Phoenix had died of a drug overdose the night before. It was on Channel One News, the news program for young people they used to air in school. I had never cried before about anyone dying, celebrity or not — I don't even think I knew anyone who had died at that point. But I did right there, in the middle of class. Totally embarrassing! He was just 23, and so beautiful and perfect to me. At that age, I was just starting to think I was too mature to idolize celebrities, but his death felt like a personal blow.
April Richardson
Joe Strummer, definitely. I'm too young to have been into the Clash when they were around (I was 6 when they broke up), but after getting into Billy Bragg as a teenager I started buying Clash records, because he always cited them as his top influence. They opened my mind politically as well as musically, as they spanned nearly every genre: punk, soul, pop, funk, reggae — the list goes on. Strummer was a humanitarian and an icon, a badass and a bleeding heart. He reminded me to "know my rights" and his band showed me that music could be important — it could make you think and empower you, educate you while making you dance. I remember being at a friend’s parents’ house over Christmas break and reading the news in the local paper. I gasped as tears welled in my eyes. The only other celebrity death in my lifetime that I remember having a real effect on me was Frank Sinatra's (my nana played his records all the time growing up), but he was 82 and had been in poor health. Joe was 50 years young and had a very sudden, unexpected heart attack. It was so sad and shocking. He was taken from us far too early and had so much more to teach us. See you at the crossroads, John Mellor.
Kyle Anderson
It snuck up on me, but the passing of Tim Russert hit me really hard. I've watched "Meet the Press" on Sunday mornings for as far back as I can remember, and I always appreciated the way that Russert put aside his personal relationships to try to extract the truth from whoever was sitting on the other side of the desk. But I also loved that he had an incredible enthusiasm for his work. After Russert died, Tom Brokaw told a story about how the two of them were up late one night after one of the presidential primaries in early 2008, and Russert turned to him and said, "Can you believe how lucky we are to be doing this?" Russert was also an unabashed sports fan and was devoted to his family. He was also a guy who died at work, something I half-figure will happen to me some day. I find it hard to watch "Meet the Press" now, not because David Gregory is a bad interviewer (he isn't), but I miss the energy that Russert brought to the table. You could always tell the issues really meant something to him, and it was contagious.
Lindsay Soll
I know it sounds a bit cliché, but I have to say Heath Ledger's death did impact me a lot. The actor was right on the cusp of reaching a status most people in Hollywood will never even come close to, as he was equal parts talented, respected and, most of all, fearless. He took parts that would make some people cringe ("Brokeback Mountain") and others swoon ("Casanova"). He was so young, and with "The Dark Knight" about to break box-office records, it all seemed too soon for him to be gone. I was on assignment at my previous job the night Heath died, and standing there when his body was carried out left an imprint on me because of how unexpected and sad it all was. People flocked to the scene and I just remember thinking, "Wow, I'm never going to forget this moment." Much like people will never forget the mark Heath has left on film.
James Montgomery
Billy Mays. The word needs more hirsute, voluminous men pitching Hercules Hooks. He will be missed.
Adam Murphy
I definitely succumbed to the classic teenage idol death blues when Joey Ramone died. When I heard the news, I responded in the only way my 16-year-old brain knew how: I took a white T-shirt from my underwear drawer and drew a picture of Joey on it with a bunch of different colored Sharpies. Nobody at my school recognized the picture, probably because my drawing skills leave something to be desired. My too-hip-for-suburban-high-school English teacher gave me a nod, though. Later on, my mom got super pissed when I put the freshly Sharpied shirt in the wash and ruined the rest of the load. My reaction was decidedly un-punk — I didn’t storm out or light a cigarette at the dinner table or anything. I got really into New Wave after that.
Jonathan Goldner
Big Pun. When he died in 2000, I had been working at MTV News for about four weeks. It was the first celebrity death story I worked on and was my introduction to the more somber side of what we do. It was the first time I thought I was going to leave the office, and then suddenly had several hours of work ahead of me.
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