Discussion Entertainers (artists, musicians, authors, actors, actresses, etc.) that have taken their own lives.

[Float On Okay]

I'll start off the thread with a few relatively unknown ones.

Osamu Dazai


Dazai is considered one of the best Japanese authors of the 20th Century. Interestingly enough, he lived through Imperial Japan's rise and fall during WWII. With his semi-autobiographical fictional writings, he expresses his loneliness and existential confusion in the world. From his college years to his death, Dazai attempted suicide 4 times (hanging, drowning, overdosing, and drowning again) with his 4th attempt being successful. On June 13, 1948, Dazai and a girl friend drowned in a canal near Dazai's home.



Osamu Dazai is widely celebrated in Japan, although he's relatively unknown elsewhere. He's also a character in the Anime "Bungo Stray Dogs", although I have never watched it. I'm currently reading his book "No Longer Human".

Billy Watts (DJ Kill Bill)


DJ Kill Bill was a Detroit teenager who aspired to become a music producer. He made only one mixtape and drowned himself shortly after. What stands out about him is that his final day and thoughts were documented on Instagram. His IG is still on Instagram to this day.









Shortly after these posts, Billy Watts jumped into the Detroit River and drowned.

If you want to listen to his mixtape/compilation of beats:




I just realized I picked two people that committed suicide by drowning but I have a lot more people that I will add to this thread. I really do hope these two souls have found peace.

If you add to this thread please post a portrait of the particular person, biographical information, and how they died. Thank you guys.

 

[Float On Okay]

Courtney Everald "Jamal" Dewar Jr. (Capital Steez)


This beautiful soul was the New York Hip-Hop Artist Capital Steez. In April 7, 2012 he released his first solo mixtape AmeriKKKan Korruption which was met with great acclaim. However, just as it appeared that his life was going in the right direction, on December 23, 2012, Courtney Everald "Jamal" Dewar Jr. died by jumping off of a building in Manhattan, after texting his loved ones "I love you" and tweeting to the world "The end."



To this day, the question of what Capital Steez could've became, is still asked within the rap and music communities. Hopefully he found the peace he was looking for.

Here's his mixtape:

 

[StateOfMind]

Ernest Hemingway

"At this time, Hemingway was constantly worried about money and his safety. He worried about his taxes and that he would never return to Cuba to retrieve the manuscripts that he had left in a bank vault. He became paranoid, thinking that the FBI was actively monitoring his movements in Ketchum.

The FBI had, in fact, opened a file on him during World War II, when he used the Pilar to patrol the waters off Cuba, and J. Edgar Hoover had an agent in Havana watch him during the 1950s. By the end of November, Mary was at her wits' end, and Saviers suggested that Hemingway go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota; Hemingway might have believed that he was to be treated there for hypertension.

The FBI knew that Hemingway was at the Mayo Clinic, as an agent later documented in a letter written in January 1961. He was checked in at the Mayo Clinic under Saviers's name in order to maintain anonymity. Meyers writes that "an aura of secrecy surrounds Hemingway's treatment at the Mayo" but confirms that he was treated with electroconvulsive therapy as many as 15 times in December 1960 and was "released in ruins" in January 1961."

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



Jean Seberg

"TIL Because she supported the Civil Rights movement, the FBI created a fake story that actress Jean Seberg had cheated on her husband with a black man, the stress of the fake story caused her to go into labor premature and resulted in the death of her baby.

She was also one of the best-known targets of the FBI COINTELPRO project. Her targeting was a well-documented retaliation for her support of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.

Seberg died at the age of 40 in Paris, with police ruling her death a probable suicide. Romain Gary, Seberg's second husband, called a press conference shortly after her death where he publicly blamed the FBI's campaign against Seberg for her deteriorating mental health. Gary claimed that Seberg "became psychotic" after the media reported a false story that the FBI planted about her pregnancy in 1970 being with a Black Panther's child. Romain Gary stated that Seberg had attempted suicide on numerous anniversaries of the child's death, August 25."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Seberg#FBI_COINTELPRO


Further reading:

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

So refreshing that this thread started off with examples other than wypipo, or richpipo, or top of their game pipo.

Says an American expat wypipo who needed to see something other than myself for once, see the hurt across a much wider spectrum of humanity, see something other than who popular media glorifies.

I'm not trying to be "woke," or be a poser using "wypipo," it's just such a fucking great word, but I get it if there are any eye rolls in my direction. What I'm trying to express is that my heart feels calm and good reading this thread so far, along with genuine sadness. I didn't notice I felt this way until it wasn't happening, but I don't feel assaulted by fame when it's presented like this. It's not about the glam and industries behind big celebrities, which also benefit from telling their versions of the celebrities' stories. Here, it started with the creativity and heart and humanness. And loving respect. Thank you.

 

[a.n.kirillov]

Courtney Everald "Jamal" Dewar Jr. (Capital Steez)
View attachment 34888

This beautiful soul was the New York Hip-Hop Artist Capital Steez. In April 7, 2012 he released his first solo mixtape AmeriKKKan Korruption which was met with great acclaim. However, just as it appeared that his life was going in the right direction, on December 23, 2012, Courtney Everald "Jamal" Dewar Jr. died by jumping off of a building in Manhattan, after texting his loved ones "I love you" and tweeting to the world "The end."

View attachment 34892

To this day, the question of what Capital Steez could've became, is still asked within the rap and music communities. Hopefully he found the peace he was looking for.

Here's his mixtape:

+1 for CapitalSteez

 

[Imustbefree]

+1 for CapitalSteez

His wiki page is interesting. He was a very spiritual guy.

 

[a.n.kirillov]

His wiki page is interesting. He was a very spiritual guy.

Is that a good thing?

 

[Float On Okay]

So refreshing that this thread started off with examples other than wypipo, or richpipo, or top of their game pipo.

Says an American expat wypipo who needed to see something other than myself for once, see the hurt across a much wider spectrum of humanity, see something other than who popular media glorifies.

I'm not trying to be "woke," or be a poser using "wypipo," it's just such a fucking great word, but I get it if there are any eye rolls in my direction. What I'm trying to express is that my heart feels calm and good reading this thread so far, along with genuine sadness. I didn't notice I felt this way until it wasn't happening, but I don't feel assaulted by fame when it's presented like this. It's not about the glam and industries behind big celebrities, which also benefit from telling their versions of the celebrities' stories. Here, it started with the creativity and heart and humanness. And loving respect. Thank you.

I didn't intend this while creating this but I, like you, also feel it's a very great thing for people to look at humanity outside of what they're used to. I always find myself intrigued by Asian culture, African culture, Native American culture, and many other non-European cultures even though I am none of those things. We can learn things from each other, especially the fact that we're very similar to each other. For example, when I was reading Osamu Dazai, I was shocked by how much I can relate with the stories and point of views he has although I'm an American and he is Japanese.

 

[StateOfMind]

Aaron Swartz

"On the night of January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested near the Harvard campus by MIT police and a United States Secret Service agent. He was arraigned in Cambridge District Court on two state charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony."

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

 

[Float On Okay]

Desmond Daniel Amofah (Etika)



I think it's right fro me to do Etika justice even though I'm sure the majority of you already know about his suicide since it was relatively recent.

Etika was YouTuber/streamer that specialized in gaming content, more specifically Nintendo. From 2017-2019, Etika would have random outbursts that would lead to his accounts getting terminated: posting pornography, using homophobic slurs, etc. These outbursts and terminations eventually led to threats of suicide. On April 29, 2019, a few weeks after Etika was hospitalized threatening suicide, a concerned fan notified the Police about Etika's questionable behavior on a livestream. Etika recorded the police detainment live on Instagram:




On June 19, 2019, Etika posted his final YouTube video titled "I'm sorry", which shows what would've been his final thoughts to the world:




On June 24, 2019, Desmond Daniel Amofah's body was found in the East River in New York City; suicide by drowning was the declared cause of death. I remember watching a YouTube News Livestream when the news broke. I never watched an Etika stream but his death was on my mind for a long while.

Here is compilation video of Etika's funniest moments.




I hope he found the peace he was looking for.