To be creeped out by people who make a huge deal out of celebrity deaths?

[TealDreamer]

I don’t mean the normal “Oh, that’s sad” reaction when a famous person dies - I mean the people who act like they’ve lost a close family member. The ones who post long, emotional tributes, talk about how “devastated” they are and make the whole thing about them.

It just feels… off. Like they’re using someone else’s deaths to fill a gap in their own lives, feeding off the drama in a way that seems performative. I get feeling sad about someone whose work you admired but the extreme reactions just feel weird and attention-seeking.

AIBU to think this is creepy?

I don't think it's creepy. I was very surprised by my reaction when David Bowie died, I was very upset. His music and persona was a big influence and it felt like a huge loss.

We can form deep attachments to artists.

It really got to me when some celebrities died. Heath Ledger, Robin Williams, John Candy, Sean Lock, Anton Yelchin. To name a few. I kept it to myself though. I don't think it's that weird to be sad about the passing of someone famous who you really liked. I don't hold with publicly performing that sadness though. I personally find it more cringe than creepy. Also, it feels competitive. Almost like vying for who is grieving most, hence the biggest fan.
🤮

Totally devastated when Meatloaf died, burst into tears at the news - at work - and I was nearly 60 at the time

Meatloaf had been the music of my life for 45 years

Were you in the UK when Diana snuffed it?

I cried when matthew perry died.

I agree with OP it’s weird. Why do you care about someone you never met. I wish people cared this much for their loved ones.
The majority of celebs are assholes anyways (look what happened after P Diddy stuff came out, it’s hilarious they all run to get the best lawyers even the one you didn’t expect) anyways and won’t ever see me crying for them 😂

@Tinydancer35 definitely 😂 it was sickening watching them all crying when Michael Jackson died. He was a nonce FFS!

We still talk about the time at work when someone called in sick because Michael Jackson died. They couldn’t face coming to work apparently.

That was collective hysterical madness.
People demanding the Queen break protocol, re-write history because they were 'devastated'.
Ridiculous state of affairs

😳

I agree OP, I think its weird and childish and attention seeking.

I was also really sad when David Bowie died, I felt he had been a constant influence on my life. But it would be ridiculous of me to pretend I had a personal relationship with him or that he had any direct impact on my life.

Some people don't have love or close relationships in their life, and identify with a particular high profile person, or they have grown up in parallel with that celebrity or they love their music, or their acting. Or they just have some significant association or connection with them eg a celeb released a record when the person split up with their partner and the music felt poignant at that time.

I don't do the celeb thing but I can empathise with the reasons why someone might be incredibly sad at the death of a celeb and get taken over by the emotion of their death being announced on the front pages.

I was shocked when Princess Diana died. I liked her, and thought that she brought a breath of fresh air to the British Monarchy. I loved Meatloaf's over-the-top performance and identified with his motorbike identity. The murders of John Lennon and President Kennedy were utterly shocking. I felt sad about all of them. I didn't cry or miss work , though.

I think it’s ok to feel sad.

I’m friends on FB with someone who writes a mini obituary for almost any famous person who died - musician / writer / politician etc.
It’s mostly about how much they meant to her. I do find that a bit weird.

It makes me cringe....it was unbearable when Amy Winehouse died and people were leaving packets of fag's and bottles of vodka outside her house.. 🤢
Just why?!
A lot of it seems very performative, like who can be the saddest.
I can't listen to candle in the wind because I'd never stop cringing.

Jesus wept 😂

And people leaving apples outside Apple shops when Steve Jobs died.

I feel a bit sad when they die terry pratchett was one I couldn't face reading his last book in case I was disappointed (I was a little especially reading the one scene which he had said he wanted to work more on) reading his books now it feels like so much unfinished work

The Queen was the only one to "upset" me she had been around my entire life basically saw her every day on money stamps tv etc seeing a "Charlie face note" isn't the same at all!

I think It all comes down to emotional connections and the way our brains form attachments. People, places, landmarks, and even celebrities become symbols of personal memories and experiences, A singer or movie star who was a near constant during a period of our lives, especially during our teenage years can become part of our identities associated with that time.It is similar to the way we mourn a building or tree being torn down that was a constant in our lives. Shared cultural experiences and nostalgia are powerful emotions. I don't think what we mourn is our relationship with that person, but what they represented in our story, and that's a very individual thing. Doesn't mean you have to rend your clothes and throw ashes on yourself and take 40 days off, but some tears can be normal.

Imknow people like this

is this a post Diana phenomenon?

It depends on what that person meant to you. I was really sad about Angie Stone’s recent death as her music was a big part of my childhood and I’ve always wanted to see her perform. Chadwick Boseman’s death brought me to actual tears because watching what he’d done with Black Panther and seeing so many black boys have such a great superhero to look up to was amazing, so to realise he’d done all that while being so unwell and knowing he was going to die was touching.

On the other hand, I didn’t have much of a reaction when Prince died (beyond “that’s sad”) because I have no emotional ties to his work.

I agree with you OP. Grief Vampires prone to overdramatics and hysteria.

Completely agree..but then when I see threads on here sometimes with intense speculation about some aspect of a celeb's life with posters arguing the toss about their actions, feelings, thoughts like they could possibly have the vaguest clue about any of it, I do think it's to be expected. I don't know why people do it but i suppose it makes sense that if you're that invested in them you'd feel the death was actually relevant to you in sone way. I get an intellectual, what a shame response...Terry Pratchett is a good example, but it's not something I would cry over or be "devastated" by.

I felt really sorry for Amy Winehouse’s neighbours. I understand that the ghouls holding vigils were a real nuisance.

I always think they must be quite shallow and struggle to connect with real emotions and relationships. As a PP pointed out, it is the same phenomena as those who obsess about the minutaie of a famous person's life. Just go on to the Royal Family board to witness the thinking of the vapid and obsessed. It is quite the window into some people's strange wee worlds.