Expert: Roger Ebert's Own Ailments May Have Desensitized Him

By Jo Piazza Posted Jun 21st 2011 10:34PM

Roger Ebert's own battle with a life-threatening disease may have desensitized him to the pain of others, psychologists tell PopEater a day after the famed film critic came under fire for a comment about the death of 'Jackass' star Ryan Dunn.

"People who have survived numerous hardships and tragedies as Roger has, often times are either extremely sensitive to the pain and tragedy of others, or can become hardened to the pain of life including the pain of others," explains clinical psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Gardere. "Roger Ebert has stared down death and pain and may now have a more tough-as-nails, survivor approach to life."

In his battle with cancer, Ebert has been through a series of surgeries, first to remove his malignant thyroid in 2002, then his salivary glands in 2003 and his jaw in 2006. He is clearly no stranger to adversity and he has looked death in the face on numerous occasions. That, Gardere tells us, could be the reason he lacked a sensitivity switch this week when discussing the death of Ryan Dunn.

Hours after Dunn was killed in a car accident, Ebert posted the news of his death, followed by "Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive."

The Internet responded with a collective "Ouch!" and reaction from fans and critics was immediate and harsh.

Dunn's 'Jackass' co-star Bam Margera called Ebert a "piece of sh*t" and the blogger Perez Hilton lambasted his insensitivity. One comment on his Facebook page read: "Mr. Ebert, your comments yesterday showed a true lack of tact and your inability to relate with the human race. I cannot believe you would, within 24 hours of the incident and before an autopsy, make such a deep and hurtful remark."

Celebrity expert Cooper Lawrence of the Scott & Todd show on PLJ told us that Ebert's remarks were positively shameful.

"Completely insensitive! Even if he feels that way, where is his compassion? Why would you do that moments after the person dies? He's had his own personal tragedy you would think he would know to use discretion before saying anything that would further hurt those who loved Ryan Dunn," Lawrence told us. "More importantly, it was NOT his place to weigh in. Just because you critique someone's work does not give you the right to publicly critique their death."

Many other reactions were unprintable, even by 'Jackass' standards.

The film critic backpedaled on Tuesday afternoon, writing on his Chicago Sun-Times blog: "I have no way of knowing if Ryan Dunn was drunk at the time of his death. I don't know what happened in this case, and I was probably too quick to Tweet."

Crisis managers say that Ebert is doing the right thing, but there is more to be done.

"He seems to be backing away from it already by saying he tweeted to soon. Ebert should apologize for being flip and insensitive about the breaking news. It was a terrible accident and this didn't make it any better," Public Relations executive and crisis guru Scott Tangney of Makovsky and Company tells us. "There is a time and a place for delivering a message. Thoughtfulness counts in these matters."

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Tags: Roger Ebert, Ryan Dunn, Twitter

Comments

(91)

Tuesday 21 June

By Mike

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Ebert's ill-timed and insensitive remark is no different than the horrible things tons of idiot bloggers write every day. (I don't mean all bloggers -- you know the rude, juvenile, insulting and abusive ones I mean.) The only difference is that they are anonymous, while we all know who he is. I think he forgot that for a moment.

By nanczee

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Let him stick to his movies....He looks like granny from the Beverly Hillbillies....

All of you who are defending Ebert on the ground that what he wrote is true are missing the point. It was a horrible thing to write, knowing it would get back to grieving relatives and friends. That's one reason we're counseled not to speak ill of the dead. Another is that the dead cannot defend themselves.

By Katydidit

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He calls em like he sees em! Doesn't take a brain surgeon to know alcohol & driving don't mix. No matter who you are! Duh!

By davo1954

Interesting that psychologists... experts.... as much/more often desensitized to all the stuff they hear over the years than most....think they can give their opinion ( we all have those and a few other things), but not have a real clue from whence a very experienced human being utters his 'response/reaction' to the obvious. I can't tell you how many times I've heard psychotherapists sit there and nod and say, I understand".. or similar, when they don't have a clue of that persons reality and world. Veterans of wars, injury, trauma, violence have been to places and felt things.. even in an instant, much less a prolonged fight against disease, that the 'peanut gallery' can only imagine. Ebert is indeed a survivor, way past what many people would ever be able to attempt, with a desire to live and contribute far past a history of drinking/smoking/driving fast/'entertaining' people.

By meg

In my persoanl view of this whole thing is why make a remark like this just hours after. its already a painful thing that someone like ryan died. So if ryan had been drinking , or w/e the case had been why be a jerk about it and post it . think before writting at least for the sake of his family who have to deal with this situation . *rip ryan. i will miss you

By bev

Roger Ebert was right...and who the hell listens to Perez Hilton? Drunk and driving 130 mph is a recipe for DEAD.

By billa518

I'm with Roger on this one. According to police, Dunn was doing 130 at the time of the accident. Even if he was stone-cold sober, he's still a jack--s

By skblaugrana10

I was a fan of Dunn's and I cried when I heard he died. However, I don't think Ebert's remark was insensitive, just ill-timed. I can understand why people think Dunn got what he deserved for drinking and driving, but I can't understand why people are being so cruel only days after it happened. How would you feel if I said you deserve to die if you live in a rough neighborhood? Chances are, you'd get pretty upset too. Let his family, friends, and fans grieve and then re-examine the incident with your thoughts. That's really the bottom line here. Stop focusing on how they died and focus on their death itself. Let them be at peace. RIP Ryan Dunn.

Wednesday 22 June

By WAWJR

Jacka** films have been made famous because people want to watch people get hurt. NASCAR is no different. Wrecks on the highway on our way to work each day, no different. We tune in the News each morning and each night to see who met their maker. Jacka** films cashed in on our societies need for the blood, gore and, or, the fate of stupid stunts. This man died as he lived. Doing a stupid stunt. He cashed in, he is smiling as we continue this banter. Money in the bank. Sorry it happened. He should have talked, or paid, someone into taking his place. 7 p's I reckon. Piss Poor Planning Promotes Piss Poor Performance. Kind of a Broadway, Spiderman kinda thing. We never would have known Spidey was on Broadway until someone got hurt. Jacka** made money, someone got hurt on film, someone died for real. Jacka** will continue to make money, I am sorry for all loss, all the way around. Please let them rest in peace, and let us all go home.

By Santana Bond

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No matter what type of manners or bad manners 'the critic guy' may have shown toward a recently deceased individual and his family; please, please take a stand and never, ever ask the opinion of a psychologist relating to any kind of social action. Both Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy are much more akin to Voodoo than any type of actual science.

Thank you very kindly....

By ZbOROVAN

Drunks rarely make good choices.

By Marie

Drinking and driving is a very selfish act, no matter who does it. Mr. Ebert merely stated a fact. Fortunately more innocent people were not harmed.

By avanticrzy

Since when is telling the truth being insensitive???

By Marissa

Here we are again with all the self righteous people who are beyond reproach and who stand in judgement of the poor souls that actually make mistakes.

Guess what, as human beings we are all fallible creatures and as such, make mistakes to some degree all of the time. However, most are lucky enough to live through them.

Ryan on the other hand paid the ultimate price for his "sin"...He paid with his life.
Do you know how you will meet your demise?
Maybe alcohol won't be the culprit, maybe it will be sleep deprivation behind the wheel of a car... Do you know for sure??

Thursday 23 June

By rotting deadbert

i cant wait to pi-s on you grave roger, hahahahahahahahahahah

By John

I'm disturbed when celebrities set examples for young people by drinking, taking pictures of it , tweeting it, then getting in a car and literally killing another human being...I'm grateful there wasn't another car on the road when Dunn decided to throw responsibility, his intelligence and rational sense out the window and drive 130 MPH after drinking. THAT's what his friends SHOULD be pissed about, NOT that Mr. Ebert called it like it IS and warned America's youth that actions like Dunn's is the REASON he died and to PLEASE not think of him as "cool" or even "acceptable".

By dprecious4life

He has said no more than what the tabloids is going to do...watch for the tabloids and see how sensitive they are going to be..

By Julie

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT EBERT!! You can't be soft on drunk driving. It's a serious crime that has destroyed many, many lives. It's time to be honest and prevent another death such as this!!

By j

Ebert is just mad because he has to live as a freak. He wishes he were dead.

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