Categories
Gag Comics

Fake News


15 comments on “Fake News”

It’s only natural to die of a splattered brain. Just ask that grubby, oily-haired 90s singer who always wore a ratty cardigan over his lingerie.

I really like the ending of this comic, everything in plain sight & the reporter sticking to the narrative, completely unfazed. Art imitates life.

“we’re now going live to the scene where a distraught man laid witness to the completely natural death. It’s to you me. Thank you me, now me here witnessed the death, can you describe it? Yes it was horrible me natural blood everywhere me, I can still smell the blood. Fascinating, back to you me. Indeed it is fascinating me thank you for joining channel 5 news tonight.”

On the morning of July 15, 1974, Chubbuck confused coworkers by claiming she had to read a newscast to open Suncoast Digest, something she had never done before. That morning’s talk show guest waited across the studio while Chubbuck sat at the news anchor’s desk. During the first eight minutes of her program, Chubbuck covered three national news stories and then a shooting from the previous day at local restaurant Beef & Bottle, at the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport. The film reel of the restaurant shooting had jammed and would not run, so Chubbuck shrugged it off and said on-camera, “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in ‘blood and guts’, and in living color, you are going to see another first—attempted suicide.” She drew the revolver and shot herself behind her right ear. Chubbuck fell forward violently and the technical director faded the broadcast rapidly to black.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Chubbuck

I think the most poignant/chilling things about the Chubbuck story are:

She had written something like ‘TV 40 news personality Christine Chubbuck shot herself in a live broadcast this morning on a Channel 40 talk program. She was rushed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where she remains in critical condition.’

and,

A week before her suicide, she told Rob Smith, the night news editor, that she had bought a gun and joked about killing herself on air. Smith later stated that he did not respond to what he thought was Chubbuck’s “sick” attempt at humor, and changed the subject.

We can only hope we live in a society that has the necessary support in place for mental health issues to prevent tings like this from happening again.

Seeing that shit like this has actually happened makes me more depressed than I should be reading this comic. Great job, Ryan.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *