TO: ROBERT “ROB” BESCHIZZA @beschizza
SUBJECT: Letter to the Managing Editor
Dear Mr. Beschizza,
I am writing today because I am frightened, and dismayed, by the coverage of the sad passing of Mr. Abe Vigoda in your esteemed publication.
In the obituary post, correspondent Xeni Jardin writes,
For the past few decades, Mr. Vigoda has been a sort of living internet meme about death, thanks to isabevigodadead.com.
This obfuscates, perhaps deliberately, the truth of Abe Vigoda’s actual death, which well predated the advent of the modern Internet. Your publication is not the only outlet complicity in this lie, as The Verge writes, “Abe Vigoda, of Godfather and internet hoax fame, is dead at 94.” But for you, a scholar of the 19A0s, I expect better.
The NYT obituary notes that Mr. Vigoda’s death was first reported by People Magazine in 1982. That NYT obit links to, but does not quote, it’s much more accurate 1997 report, which leads with…
ABE VIGODA has been dead so long he’s learned to live with it.
The truth is: Abe Vigoda was murdered sometime during the Lost Decade. Exactly when, and more importantly why, aren’t known yet. But I trust publications like yours to unearth, not entomb, the truth.
Kindest Regards,
Frances Unruly, IV, Ph.D.
