#MyOzObituary: honesty prevails
#MyOzObituary was trending within hours.
Following a storm of online criticism about The Australian‘s Colleen McCullough obituary where they referred to the author as “plain of feature, and certainly overweight,” Twitter responded (as it always does) with suggestions of how the newspaper would frame their own obituaries.
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Within hours of The Australian publishing the obituary, the hashtag #myozobituary started trending with people (mainly journalists and authors) tweeting honest appraisals of themselves.
Fat, ignorant and flatulent; yet nevertheless as charismatic as a paper clip. #myozobituary
— Richard Hinds (@rdhinds) January 30, 2015
Despite a forehead like a solar panel and hair mown by the blind, Benjamin Law had basic literacy and dabbled in social media. #myozobituary
— Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) January 30, 2015
#myozobituary Persistently homosexual and freakishly tall, he was never the less, Anne Rice’s son. — Christopher Rice (@chrisricewriter) January 30, 2015
A girl, Angela was nevertheless fond of sport. #myozobituary — Angela Pippos (@angelapippos) January 30, 2015
Even American television show host Craig Ferguson joined in with a tweet to his 2.09 million followers:
Although a shouty malodorous vulgarian he nevertheless enjoyed most episodes of house hunters international. #MyOzObituary — Craig Ferguson (@CraigyFerg) January 30, 2015
Some even kindly volunteered to write 140-character obituaries for their peers or those they admired most, such as this one for ABC Radio presenter Mark Colvin’s kidneys.
“@Cantbeeffed: @Colvinius Never achieved the levels of fame attained by his kidneys.” #myozobituary — Mark Colvin (@Colvinius) January 30, 2015
“Close friend” of Kevin Rudd. This was the least of his faults. #MyOzObituary — Rhys Muldoon (@rhysam) January 30, 2015
Short & dumpy with an extra chin, she nevertheless wrote books novels & articles & was occasionally allowed 2 appear on telly #myozobituary — Jane Caro (@JaneCaro) January 30, 2015
Surely McCullough would approve of this witty, appropriately wordy send-off?
