Was Roger Ebert’s Remark About Ryan Dunn’s Death Offensive?

On Monday, June 20, at approximately 3:30 am, Ryan Dunn died when the Porsche (bastard) he was driving swerved off the road at speeds approaching 140 mph. “Who the fuck is Ryan Dunn and why should I care?” you might be thinking to yourself, especially if your name is John Papageorgiou and it was any point in time before Monday. As it turns out, he was a member of the Jackass crew, most famous for jamming a toy car up his ass then complaining to a doctor that he had a mysterious pain “back there”, which resulted in a pretty funny series of x-rays.

So why am I writing about his passing? Because the death of Ryan Dunn has struck a chord, due in large part to its cause. What might that be? Well, approximately three hours before the fatal crash, Ryan tweeted this picture of himself:

While my problem solving skills don’t exactly rival those of Gregory House, I (and most other people) was able to deduce that alcohol might have been a factor in the accident. Honestly, I’d have assumed it even without the photo: Ryan couldn’t look more mick if he permanently held up his fists like the Fighting Irish mascot. What really got things heated, however, was a tweet from Roger Ebert almost immediately after the news broke:

“Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.”

This led to an incensed reply from one of the more famous Jackass alums, Bam Margera:

“I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of shit roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents about a jackass drunk driving and his is one, fuck you! Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat fucking mouth!”

Now, before I get into whether or not Ebert’s comment was offensive, I’d like to delve into just how big a piece of shit Bam Margera is. Look at that grammar. One cries hysterically. You capitalize a goddamn proper name. And I still don’t comprehend what the ending of that first sentence is supposed to mean. If the fact that I toil in utter obscurity while there’s a line of women longer than an American Idol audition who would shotgun pork and beans out of Bam’s colon wasn’t enough to destroy what little faith I have left in the existence of God, the fact that Death could touch someone so close to him yet totally miss the mark is.

As for Ebert’s comment, his point is completely valid. Drunk driving is a shitty thing to do, and Ryan could have easily killed innocent people. (Actually, given Ryan had a passenger who also died, he did kill an innocent person.) I think anyone would agree with that. The problem is, when you try to be witty about the untimely passing of someone who made a bad choice but wasn’t a bad person, you can come off like a smug twat. Also, there was a sense of Ebert picking on a guy who was several rungs down the entertainment totem pole because it was safe. I don’t recall any tweets to the effect of “It looks like they killed Bill” when David Carradine hanged himself jerking off.

Did Ebert’s tweet about Ryan Dunn’s death offend me? No. I applaud him for having the balls to draw attention to the cause of Ryan’s death and not act like the guy was tragically claimed by a freak occurrence. Could he have been more tactful about things? Yes. His message seems more about satisfying the raging pun hardon in his pants than actually saving lives. Hopefully, next time, Roger will show a little more tact. Or has the balls to say something along the lines of this. I’m cool with either.

Tagged as: Roger Ebert,  Ryan Dunn.