Nothing speaks louder to the distorted values in Tinseltown than the circumstances that followed the death of pop icon, Whitney Houston.
Apparently while readying herself for a pre-Grammy party, the ex-diva drowned in a fourth floor bathtub at the Beverly Hilton. A couple of short hours later, guests began to arrive for the party at the same hotel with Miss Houston’s corpse laying a few floors above. One trusts that there were likely some awkward moments among guests, but the large majority of them reveled and glammed for the cameras well into the night while Houston’s body was ostensibly whisked away.
Praise should go to Larry King for publicly declaring that the entire event should have been cancelled. It’s tragic that none of the other triple-A-listers shared in his decorum. This shouldn’t surprise us, however, after all the “biz” in showbiz stands for business and it’s a business that has always pushed the vulnerable to states of excess often fueled by drugs and alcohol.
We won’t know for some time what other factors contributed to Houston’s apparent drowning as God only knows why toxicology reports of the stars take months to produce, but after years of substance abuse, no one will be astonished when Houston’s blood work comes back as a veritable witch’s brew of chemicals, alcohol, and prescription drugs.
What is surprising, however, is how quickly Houston’s peers decided that a fitting tribute would be to party a few short hours after her death.
Perhaps if Hollywood stars, their handlers, promoters, and those who benefit from their stardom had some values that came close to matching our own, we’d have fewer tragedies like Houston's. It's doubtlful that will happen though; they'll all be too occupied fighting over who gets to portray her in the upcoming movie.
