Thumbs had barely had a chance to cool off following the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson yesterday when news broke that Billy Mays, the well-known DRTV pitchman who boosted products including OxiClean with a boisterous style and wide grin, had died at age 50. Soon, Facebook, Twitter and other social media were live with widespread shock over the continuation of a downer week for American pop culture.
Reports that he landed roughly at a Florida airport and said that something landed on his head are being linked to his death. It is the wish of his family that they be allowed to mourn in privacy, so I hope there isn’t too much sensationalism surrounding the investigation of the sudden tragedy. By all accounts Mays was a professional who served the DRTV industry well, and it would be nice for that to be the best memory of him — not a public autopsy.
