Dead Pool 8th June 2025

Scraping the  bottom of the barrel for celebrity deaths this week. I’ll get those cages open… 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Jonathan Joss, 59, American actor (King of the Hill, Parks and Recreation, The Magnificent Seven), shot. 
• Shigeo Nagashima, 89, Japanese baseball player and manager (Yomiuri Giants), pneumonia
• Enzo Staiola, 85, Italian child actor (Bicycle Thieves, The Barefoot Contessa, I’ll Get You for This).  
• Marc Garneau, 76, Canadian politician and astronaut, first Canadian in space. 

 In Other News

Morten Harket, the frontman of A-ha, has Parkinson’s disease, the singer has announced. On Wednesday, the Norwegian “Take On Me” band released a statement reading: “This isn’t the sort of news anyone wants to deliver to the world, but here it is: Morten has Parkinson’s disease.” In his own statement on the band’s official website, Harket, 65, said he originally kept the degenerative condition “strictly private”, but has now decided to tell fans. He said: “I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis. With time I’ve taken to heart my 94-year-old father’s attitude to the way the organism gradually surrenders: ‘I use whatever works. Part of me wanted to reveal it. Like I said, acknowledging the diagnosis wasn’t a problem for me; it’s my need for peace and quiet to work that has been stopping me.” Harket said he is”trying the best I can to prevent my entire system from going into decline”, writing: “It’s a difficult balancing act between taking the medication and managing its side effects. There’s so much to weigh up when you’re emulating the masterful way the body handles every complex movement, or social matters and invitations, or day-to-day life in general.” Harket’s symptoms have been “softened” thanks to development in treatment from the Mayo Clinic in the US. 

Jessie J has revealed that she was diagnosed with early stage  breast cancer two months ago and after a period spent “in and out of tests”. The singer, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, shared a video on her Instagram with the news, saying she had been “going back and forth” over the decision to talk about it publicly. “I want to share it with my fans and the people that care about me, and also I’m a sharer. I’ve always shared everything that I go through in my life,” she begins her video by saying. “Before ‘No Secrets’ came out I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. I’m highlighting the word early. Cancer sucks in any form but I’m holding on to the word early. I have been in and out of tests throughout this whole period.” The singer went on to explain her reasons for wanting to be open about her diagnosis, saying it was part of her process to accept it. “Because selfishly I do not talk about it enough. I’m not processing it because I’m working so hard. I also know how much sharing in the past has helped me with other people giving me their love and support and also their own stories.” She said she would be undergoing surgery after she performs at the Summertime Ball 2025, scheduled to take place in London on 15th June. “It’s a very dramatic way to get a boob job. I am going to disappear for a bit after Summertime Ball to have my surgery and I will come back with massive tits and more music,” she said.  

Sir Rod Stewart has been forced to cancel more US concerts as the singer continues to recover from flu ahead of his set at Glastonbury later this month. The 80-year-old is still set to play the coveted Sunday tea-time legends slot at the prestigious UK festival later this month. Earlier this week Stewart announced that he was having to cancel two planned concerts in Las Vegas following doctor’s orders. The singer has now taken to Instagram to say that he is “devastated” as six more of his shows in Nevada and California, which were all due to take place in the next eight days, have either been cancelled or rescheduled. “I have to cancel and reschedule my next six concerts in June as I continue to recover from the flu,” he wrote in a post shared on Saturday. “So sorry my friends. I’m devastated and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience to my fans. I’ll be back on stage and will see you soon.” He signed off “Sir Rod” along with the heartbreak emoji. The singer previously emphasised that, while he had no immediate plans to retire, he would be scaling back his world tours after completing his current one. “This will be the end of large scale world tours for me, but I have no desire to retire. I love what I do, and I do what I love,” he said in a statement. “I’m fit, have a full head of hair, and can run 100 metres in 18 seconds at the jolly age of 79,” Stewart added.

On This Day

• 1929 – Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
• 1968 – James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut moments later while the young girl is seen running naked down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.

Deaths

• 632 – Muhammad, the central figure of Islam. (born 570).
• 1913 – Emily Davison, English suffragette (born 1872).
• 2018 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and travel documentarian (born 1956).

 Last Meals

While many American prisoners awaiting the death penalty are able to choose their final meal before execution, inmates in Texas no longer have this privilege thanks to the actions of one man.

White supremacist Lawrence Brewer was executed in 2011 after he was convicted of helping to kill a black man by dragging him behind a truck in what some call the most notorious race crime of the post-Civil Rights era.

Brewer, 44 – who was convicted of capital murder along with two other men also found guilty of taking part in the kidnapping and slaying of James Byrd Jr. in 1998 –  was given a lethal injection of drugs on September 21st and was pronounced dead shortly after.

He had no final words, but he did put in a request for his last meal – two chicken steaks, a triple bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, three fajitas, a pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge.

Guards did their best to bring Brewer his favourite foods before his death.

But as his dinner was plated up and presented to him on a table, Brewer refused to eat a single bite.

His refusal to eat the multi-course meal angered Texas senator John Whitmire, prompting him to put an end to the tradition, saying ‘it’s long overdue.’

‘Enough is enough’, the senator declared, stating that the last meal request is an ‘extremely inappropriate’ privilege, ‘one which the perpetrators did not provide to their victim.’ 

‘Mr Byrd didn’t get to choose his last meal. The whole deal is so illogical’, he added.

Executive director  of the Texas criminal justice department, Brad Livingston, agreed with Sen. Whitmire.

He said: ‘I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid.

‘Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.’

Brewer had been on death row for 12 years before his 2011 execution.

Speaking to local media before receiving his lethal injection, he said death would be a ‘good out’ and that he was ‘glad it’s about to come to an end.’

Asked if he had any last words, he replied: ‘No. I have no final statement’, as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

Brewer was executed for his part in the 1998 killing of Byrd in Jasper, East Texas, after Brewer and two friends offered him a lift along a remote country road. 

The subject of last meals before execution has thrown up  some interesting results over the last few decades, with infamous killer James Smith being refused a request of dirt in 1990 and instead eating yoghurt.

While not a mandatory requirement for prisoners on death row in countries where the death penalty still exists, the request is often granted in the US, with the final meals written into public records of executions.

Despite Texas’ decision to no longer allow prisoners to choose their last meals, other states continue to give inmates the option to.

Some states, however, have a final meal price limit, while others require the meal to be served within a specific time.

It is not uncommon for prisoners to order nostalgic meals that offer them a last flavour of happiness before they face the most extreme punishment possible for their heinous crimes.

While extensive, Brewer’s request was far from the largest or most bizarre death row meal orders.

Back in 2011, prisoner Cleve Foster’s requested two fried chickens, French fries and a 19-litre bucket of peaches.

In 2000, Odell Barnes Jr. from Texas, who was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Helen Bass,  requested ‘justice, equality and world peace.’

In 2002, Robert Anthony Buell, from Ohio, was executed by lethal injection for the 1982 murder of 11-year-old Krista Lea Harrison. For his final meal, he requested a single, black, un-pitted olive.

Last Week’s Birthdays

Griffin Dunne (70), Ye (48), Colin Baker (82), Nancy Sinatra (85), Liam Neeson (73), Anna Torv (46), Michael Cera (37), Karl Urban (53), Bill Hader (47), Bear Grylls (51), Tom Jones (85), Jason Isaacs (62), Paul Giamatti (58), Robert Englund (78), Sandra Bernhard (70), Mark Wahlberg (54), Mel Giedroyc (57), Noah Wyle (54), Angelina Jolie (50), Bruce Dern (89), Sean Pertwee (61), Russell Brand (50), Imogen Poots (36), James Purefoy (61), Suzi Quatro (75), Morena Baccarin (46), Awkwafina (37), Justin Long (47), Jewel Staite (43), Liam Cunningham (64), Dominic Cooper (47), Zachary Quinto (48), And Dana Carvey (70).