Popular American rapper Mac Miller has died at the age of 26 from a suspected drug overdose. Miller was also well known for dating pop singer Ariana Grande.
Mac Miller, whose real name was Malcolm McCormick, was a rapper, singer and music producer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who had released successful albums Blue Side Park, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, GO:OD AM, The Divine Feminine and Swimming. Miller also had a number of mixtapes that were hugely popular.
The rapper had only released his latest album, Swimming, just over month ago on the 3rd of August. Miller was also scheduled to perform around California in late October and early November, and many others across America and Canada in late November into early December. On the day of his death, Miller was scheduled to have a video shoot.
The Pittsburgh-born musician was found unresponsive in his LA home on the afternoon of the 7th of September 2018. Miller was pronounced dead when the authorities arrived. It is suspected that the rapper’s death was due to a drug overdose.
Many celebrities expressed their sadness over Miller’s death, with fellow musician and friend Childish Gambino, whose real name is Donald Glover, telling the audience at his most recent show in Chicago that his “heart is broken” after Miller’s passing. Fans are also mourning the loss of the rapper, with many Twitter users tweeting about their love for his music and the memories that they have with his songs.
However, many people have blamed his ex-girlfriend and pop star Ariana Grande for his death. Grande, who dated Mac Millar for almost two years but ended the relationship in May of this year, has received a flood of hate in her Instagram comments, so much so that she has had to turn them off to stop the mean and unfair comments coming.
Drug overdoses have been a major problem in celebrity culture for many years, with singer Demi Lovato overdosing on heroin back in July of this year. Lovato received an outpouring from celebrities and fans alike, however she also received many hateful comments and tweets criticising the recording artist, not considering her personal struggles that lead her to relapse from her sobriety. This criticism was far less when the news of Mac Miller’s death, with much of the blame from the public being directed at Ariana Grande.
So does this indicate a double standard with drug use between men and women in Hollywood and how it is received by the public when a death occurs? Most likely yes, just as there are many other inequalities when it comes to show business. The public, more often than not, do not hold anyone else responsible if a female celebrity becomes ill or dies due to substance abuse and heavily criticise them, but do not criticise the male celebrity at the same volume, occasionally putting the blame on an ex partner, just as the blame has been put greatly on Ariana Grande in the wake of Mac Miller’s death.
With another untimely death occurring due to drugs, will it effect the high number of celebrities who struggle with substance abuse in the media, and will it heighten the awareness of the effects of drug use?
By Lucy Wright, Editor of Culture
Sources: Ticketmaster, Cosmopolitan, Twitter
