He Deserved To Die?
This morning, I read in The Pittsburgh Press that Jerry Lewis made the following remark to Entertainment Tonight about his supposedly “good friend,” Merv Griffin:
“I was very angry when I heard he died. He didn’t have to die. He knew he had prostate cancer and he did nothing about it. He deserved to die.”
I hope he was misquoted. But if he wasn’t…
Was he trying to be funny? I don’t know much about Jerry Lewis’ comedy. He wasn’t a comedian for my generation. But that comment doesn’t seem funny to me.
Was the remark taken out of context? I can’t think of a context in which it would be anything other than completely heartless to say that Merv Griffin (or anyone else) deserved to die from prostate cancer.
I could understand someone making the first 3 lines of that comment.
A lot of people get angry at loved ones when they die. It’s an emotion you don’t really want to feel. But you’re angry because they left you behind or because you believe their death was unnecessary.
It’s part of the grieving process.
But I can’t understand, “He deserved to die.”
Jerry Lewis is a man who’s come to symbolize compassion toward sick people, especially children, with all the years of his Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon.
His telethon was always held on Labor Day weekend, as I remember.
How would he feel - or how would any of “his kids” feel - if someone said they deserved to die? For any reason.
Merv Griffin was an adult. He had the right to make his own medical decisions.
It’s also a bit presumptuous to claim that Mr. Griffin would’ve been cured with treatment.
Many people seek treatment for cancer, prostate or otherwise, and die anyway. Sometimes, cancer patients regret seeking treatment because the side effects can make their lives a living hell.
Sometimes, after cancer patients have been through a number of treatments, they knowingly decide to forgo any further treatments.
They choose to die.
And sometimes, cancer patients make that same decision before undergoing any cancer tests or treatment.
It’s their life, it’s their death, and it’s their choice to make.
Who is Jerry Lewis to decide how any of us should live our lives? Who is he to decide what any of us “deserve?”
I think his remark is heartless - especially because he had the nerve to say such a thing on a national TV show. He should’ve kept it to himself.
With friends like him…
August 24th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Grief takes many forms, but this doesn’t sound like grief. It sounds like judgment.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
No one deserves to die from cancer.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
That’s such a harsh comment. Maybe he didn’t mean it the way it sounds.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Gotta wonder what he says about his enemies.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
I saw the interview on Entertainment Tonight. That’s what he said. Did he even think about how Merv’s family would feel?
August 24th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I hope this doesn’t affect the money they raise for the MDA telethon next week.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Stupid. A really thoughtless remark.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I saw the story on Entertainment Tonight, too. They said Merv Griffin had radiation treatments, but he didn’t have his prostate removed. That’s what Jerry Lewis was mad about. It wasn’t a very nice thing to say that he deserved to die, though.