Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment in New York City on Sunday, February 2, 2014. It is suspected that this 46-year-old Oscar-winning actor had overdosed on drugs.
Hoffman was known for his roles in movies including Mission: Impossible III, Moneyball and Capote. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is one of his more recent productions–he played the role of Plutarch Heavensbee. The character was supposed to return in the next two movies in The Hunger Games series, however, changes will need to be made.
There have been countless reactions to this news. Many of his co-stars have already expressed their sorrow for the loss and have talked about how wonderful he was and what a tragedy this is.
One celebrity, Jared Padalecki, Tweeted something regarding Hoffman’s death on the day he passed away. Padalecki said, “When I think ‘tragedy’, I think of St Judes, of genocide, of articles I read in the paper. But, yes, either way, a death, is sad.”
Padalecki also tweeted he just has a different definition of “tragedy”, not that he does not believe that addiction is a reality or Hoffman was stupid. Padalecki certainly posed a unique perspective on the event.
There has been a lot of talk in the celebrity world regarding drugs and alcohol. Whether it’s Justin Bieber and his DUI or Ke$ha and her trip to rehab, there seems to be a new story every week. Due to this, a common reaction to Hoffman’s death may be “Oh, another OD.”.
What does this say about how people treat death? Seeing celebrities and other people abuse substances and even die from them on the daily causes people to become immune to feeling empathy for them. People will look at Hoffman as just another person who ODed instead of someone who had a problem and did not receive the amount of help he clearly needed.
Addiction is a real problem. It can happen to anyone. No one is happy to see Hoffman leave. His achievements are those that many people hope to one day accomplish themselves. He will be missed. But, in order for everyone to realize this, they first need to take addiction seriously and not just see it as a common “trend” among celebrities.
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