Call me cold and heartless, but since I am trapped on the couch for much of the day recovering from recent surgery (see Dec. 1, 2011 post) , I have become more familiar than I care to admit with daytime/nighttime/late night TV. And after nearly two weeks of non-stop Whitney Houston–her life, her career, her gorgeous face, her ugly drugs, her lying piece of trash ex-husband, her precious daughter, her extreme highs–both drugs and record sales–and her extreme lows–both drugs and record sales, I am done.
I supported it all and was enthralled, often teary, at the beginning. I “You Tubed” her Star Spangled Banner which she knocked out of the stadium like no human being has or ever will do. She conquered that impossible melody. She nailed it. I went so far as to rewatch The Bodyguard after hearing Kevin speak at her lovely and understated funeral.
But, now I say enough.
Pierce’s whole show, for at least the sixth time it seems, was Whitney last night. The Today Show this AM was Whitney. Every E Entertainment special is Whitney. At what point do we say she was a beautiful, special talent; an icon of our generation but she was a train wreck? She wasn’t hit by a bus unexpectedly. She was an incredibly talented but self-destructuve drug addict who by her own hand, ended her life.
I can just see Dr. Drew shaking his grey head in disgust that “we” are partly to blame for her demise. He feels (yes, I watched his Whitney special, too) that hopeless addicts need our help and support and it was “our” responsibility to get her a sponsor or a handler to help her keep her self-destructive behavior at bay.
And I agree with him to a point. Yes, all addictive personalities need support and help and therapy to fight the heinous demons that haunt them. And it is a sad day when someone, especially someone as apparently sweet, genuine, talented and charismatic as Whitney Houston loses their life to their worst enemy and fatal flaw.
But there are less famous but just as young and special and beautiful people all over this country–and the world–fighting demons they did not ask for either–cancer, sexual abuse, famine, social injustice. I think it’s time to let Whitney lie peacefully in her grave and move on.
Ok there I have said it. I am sure I am going straight to hell as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton spit on my grave. And by the way, why was Jesse on the podium at that funeral? Did he even speak? Why don’t they just make a life-sized doll of him and stick in the center of any Black event. Maybe Oprah should be attached to his arm.
Oh, man. Now I have really done it. I can feel Maya Angelou spitting, too.