The celebrity deaths of 2016

2016 has been a rough year for losing many artists, entertainers, and celebrities. Below is a small portion of those who have passed away this year. It's enough to make you want to put some of your favorite entertainers into protective custody so we can make it through 2016 without further losses. It shouldn't be a big surprise since famous people die every year. 2014 was a rough year for entertainers but 2015 was not quite as bad. 2016 has made up for it.

David Bowie  
Prince
George Michael
Glen Fry
Mahammud Ali
Nancy Reagan
Gene Wilder
Garry Shandling
Craig Sager
Carrie Fisher
Kenny Baker
Abe Vigoda
Alan Rickman
Peter Vaughan
Florence Henderson

All of the celebrities listed above impacted my life to some degree and I am grateful for their contributions and wish them and their family and fans the best. At the same time I have noticed a trend that I find amusing. It is the need some people have to seek attention by telling everyone that they are grieving more than everyone else since they were their biggest fan. This could be true in some cases but I suspect many people like to hop on the grieving bandwagon for some celebrities they know next to nothing about.

One of my favorite scenes from The Office perfectly demonstrates this. You can click on this  Office Clip and watch to see how Ryan was in so much pain when he thought Smokey Robinson had died and how little he knew about him when pushed on the subject. If you didn't just click on the video link you really should. It is funny and only takes 2 minutes of the episode. Seriously, do it.

I've seen the same thing happens with bandwagon followers in sports. Ask anyone who claims to be a hardcore life long Golden State Warriors or Los Angeles Clippers fan. You will find that few of them can name more than a couple players from their favorite team from more than 5 years ago.

I am not trying to play the role of "fan police" or tell people who they can like and how they should react when a celebrity dies, but you have to admit there is plenty of superficial grief going around. I'd also like to give you a heads up that there will be many people you grew up being entertained by who will die in 2017 so we will probably go through this same thing again at the end of next year.

It's been sad to see so many entertainers pass away this year and as I continue to age I'm afraid it will only get worse each year, but what is even more disturbing is watching Keith Richards suspiciously getting younger and more powerful each year.