Michael Jackson death sparks internet frenzy and virtual bickering
Millions of fans and members of the musical community have been paying tribute to Michael Jackson following his death due to a cardiac arrest yesterday afternoon. Within an hour of the death being confirmed, nine of the top ten slots on Google Trends, which tracks the most popular search terms in the US, were filled with terms related to the singer’s passing.
Twitter has also illustrated the scale of the shock and sadness being felt by many around the world. Mashable.com has reported that Twist, the Twitter tracking tool, is showing that 22.61% of Tweets currently contain the name “Michael” while at least 30% of Tweets are remarking on Jackson’s death.
Celebrities as well as fans have also been using Twitter to express their sadness with MC Hammer tweeting “I will be mourning my friend, brother, mentor and inspiration.” Actors Lindsay Lohan and Ashton Kutcher as well as songwriter John Mayer also commented.
Following the death of the singer, Twitter was also home to some childish bickering between Fall Out Boy bassist, Pete Wentz, and Perez Hilton, the infamous peddler of Hollywood gossip. Hilton wrote a blog post which contained a picture of the singer and a caption reading “Heart attack or cold feet?” and went on to speculate that Jackson’s collapse was a stunt to get the singer out of his proposed upcoming tour. The blog was immediately changed following confirmation of the singer’s death, and Hilton was first to criticise comedienne Sarah Silverman after she tweeted an ill timed joke. Pete Wentz, his wife Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and thousands of Twitter users lambasted Hilton for his initial blog post and subsequent about face. The virtual fight escalated to a war of words between Pete Wentz and Perez Hilton with Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and John Mayer cheering from the sidelines. However, mere hours after the argument erupted everyone seemed to have made up, with apologies being issued by all involved.
The death of Michael Jackson has been a shock to his fans and peers alike and, whatever individual opinions people have of Jackson, his status as a musical legend cannot be denied.
