John Gibson Makes Distasteful Comments About Heath Ledger's Death

"I wish I knew how to quit you," you hear as Fox New's John Gibson's radio show begins...and then John Gibson states, "Ahhh, well, he found out how to quit you."

He then goes on to say the following, "Actor Heath Ledger found dead today in his New York City apartment, face-down in the bedroom surrounded by prescription drugs. Confidante telling TMZ and TMZ is right about everything about 90% of the time, that uh...that he had a serious drug abuse problem so it appears to be an accidental overdose - could be a suicide...Listen, November '07 he was talking about...and this is a 28 year-old guy, saying well, it's given me a whole different thought about death. WHAT?! You're 28 years old and you're thinking about death? Give me a break!"

"Maybe he was a deep thinker..." a female co-anchor, Christine, suggests.

"Maybe he was a weirdo! I'm thinking about it right now...okay anyway, Heath Ledger died and I'm sure people will be upset. All you Brokeback Mountain fans you wanna give Christine a call, she'll be happy to talk to you."

A clip of Heath Ledger saying, "We're dead" is played and Gibson mocks him repeating, "We're dead" before continuing on, "Now that's a terrible thing. It's...uhh...it is terrible. I don't know why a 28 year-old guy is thinking about death. He should be thinking about all the great things he's going to do in the 50, 60 years he's got left."

Later in the segment, Gibson says, "He was depressed about yesterday's downturn in the stock market" in a joking tone and then, "There's new news coming out now right now...that apparently Heath Ledger was suicidal and his friends saw it coming. I think he watched the Clinton/Obama debate last night. I think he was an Edwards guy because he saw his Edwards guy was just completely irrelevant. Good-looking, wears a suit well, but just should completely leave the stage."

When you hear these comments in context, they are offensive, but understandable when you consider the different worldviews of suicide. At the time, Gibson was under the impression that Ledger had committed suicide - a possibility in Ledger's death that resulted 'inconclusive' after autopsy.

Last year, a movie was released about suicide called, "The Bridge" about people that committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Among many reactions, one of the typical ones of friends and family was anger. When someone with potential commits suicide, there are many people who will be angry with them when thinking about all the things the deceased had that they did not appreciate - the value of life that they just didn't see.

However, Gibson isn't a friend or family member. He is a talk news host for a news network that is often accused of pandering to the right wing interests. Because hating the right is popular, right now, his comments even trumped those of an MSNBC news anchor, Courtney Hazlett, who quipped, "In a lot of ways, this reminds me - we've almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson."

So is the backlash a political one, a well-founded anger, or is this resulting from the loss of a great actor misdirected into hatred because anger is easier to process than the sadness that comes from the loss of a familiar face?

This isn't the first time Gibson has been in the hot seat. Previously, he was criticized over comments about whites becoming a minority and mocking Jon Stewart's comments after 9/11. To Gibson's credit, however, he did give a formal apology to those who many have been offended on Fox News and had kind things to say about Ledger. Still, some will never buy an apology.

Gibson isn't the only media person in hot water for speaking his mind. Recently, a Golf Channel anchor, Kelly Tilghman, saw her name in the news along with being served with a two-week suspension for a comment about how Tiger Woods' competitors could only beat him if they "lynched" him in a back alley. Many were up in arms over Tilghman's seemingly innocent comment, deeming it a racial slur. Things did not improve when only a week later, Golfweek magazine posted a cover with a photograph of a noose and a caption proclaiming, 'Caught in a Noose' - Tilghman slips up, and Golf Channel can't wriggle free'. Where Tilghman was only suspended, the editor of the magazine was fired.

Dana Jacobson, co-host of "First Take" on ESPN2, was another name whose explosive comments outraged thousands after off-air comments she made at a roast celebrating the 11^th anniversary of sports show 'Mike & Mike in the Morning. Jacobson insulted Notre Dame using the F-word three times in a rant poking fun of Notre Dame's "touchdown Jesus" statue and even going so far as to say, "F---- Jesus!". Witnesses said she appeared inebriated and was booed off stage.

Jacobson later apologized and was given a one-week suspension.

By now, everyone knows of controversial comments by such names as Don Imus, who made racial comments about the Rutger's University women's basketball team. As long as people have the tendency to be offended by outrageous comments, we'll never hear the end of firings and suspensions resulting from foot-in-mouth moments across the news networks and sometimes outright scandals. No news network goes unscathed and at some point in time, every network will have an anchor that just can't help but voice an opinion...or tell an outright lie.

Dan Rather in cohoots with another journalist at CBS, Mary Mapes, went so far as to falsify President Bush's records for political gain, resulting in both of their dismissals. Mapes later went on to defend herself by publishing a book entitled, Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.

It's not only anchors, sometimes even high-positioned news people stoop to low tactics, such as Eason Jordan, a news chief for CNN who insinuated that U.S. troops target journalists for death after dozens of journalists were killed covering footage in war zones.

There are some that have gotten so good at offending people that nobody pays them much mind anymore. Their comments are publicized, people are disgusted, but it's gone beyond issuing meaningless apology after meaningless apology. Most notable are Bill O'Reilly, Keith Olbermann, Ann Coulter, and the Queen of Mean, Rosie O'Donnell.

When it comes to showing disrespect for the dead, perhaps nobody takes the cake over Bill Maher. In 2006, he dressed as the recently-deceased Steve Irwin, complete with stingray barb protruding from his chest. I can't imagine what one could say or do to beat that for distastefulness.

Sources:

John Gibson live clip (YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTms02ctnss

John Gibson news story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/23/fox-host-john-gibson-mock_n_82962.html

Tilghman Story: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3wipgOQc1Pu_3ZP5gWFWkrjloyQD8UCFSGG2

Dana Jacobson: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/SPORTS06/801240420/1048/SPORTS

Eason resignation: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17462-2005Feb11.html

Bill Maher costume: http://13gb.com/media.php?media_id=2111