Terry Gilliam's fans react to mistaken news of his death as only true Monty Python devotees would
'He's not dead - he's resting'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Terry Gilliam’s fans responded to the incorrect news that the popular director had died as only true Monty Python fans would.
Vanity Fair apologised on Tuesday after mistakenly publishing an obituary for the Monty Python star with the headline: 'Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, Director of Brazil, dies at XXX’.
The obituary had been shared thousands of times by late Tuesday evening.
"Director Terry Gilliam, the only American member of the Monty Python comedy troupe and an Oscar nominee for the screenplay to his film Brazil, has died,” it read.
"Gilliam directed 12 feature films, often with baroque or surreal themes, including Time Bandits, Brazil and The Fischer King. His films inspired intense reactions; several were cult classics with devoted followings, but they were generally flawed enough to inspire loathing from those not on the same bawdy, anarchical comedy wavelength."
The magazine issued a hasty response as soon as they realised their mistake, causing relieved fans to inform twitter the 74-year-old was alive and well through the medium of Monty Python jokes and references, including, “he’s not dead, he’s resting”.
Upon seeing the article, Gilliam apologised for being dead to any fans who had purchased tickets for his upcoming shows, and claimed Vanity Fair had misled readers about his age.
I APOLOGIZE FOR BEING DEAD especially to those who have already bought tickets to the upcoming talks, but, Variety has...
Posted by Terry Gilliam on Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Luckily, Gilliam has seen the funny side of it all.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments