I always find it odd when people mourn for those that they've never known.
Sure, I loved Glen Campbell's music, but I didn't retreat to my room and cry when he passed away. And yes, I was a big fan of parts unknown by Anthony Bourdain, but I didn't post any tributes to him when he passed away.
So imagine how I felt when thousands, if not millions, of individuals took to social media last week to mourn the death of XXXTentacion. He's more than just a man most people didn't know: he's a person that most of people didn't want to know. Because behind the music, the tattoos, and the bizarre attitude was a man who was, by almost all accounts, a terrible human being.
He once bragged about beating the crap out of a homosexual man simply for being homosexual, and then rubbing the man's blood on his face like war paint.
He once punched one of his own fans in the face.
He once threatened to rape his girlfriend with a barbecue fork.
He once beat the crap out of his pregnant girlfriend, then locked her in a room for two days to prevent her from going to the hospital with a bruised face.
And people are posting tributes to this man on the internet? Celebrities are talking about how influential he was to their own music? Actress Skai Jackson is calling him humble and genuine?
What the fuck?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't be sad. XXXTentacion was talented and young, and didn't deserve to die. He deserved to be imprisoned, but he didn't deserve to die.
But let's just calm down with the tributes as we try to reconcile XXX's controversial past.
Not everybody who dies deserves to be mourned.
