No timeline exists for when to talk negatively about someone after they die, and a celebrity's different transgressions may warrant nuanced responses.
. Both died in 2017 at age 91, but their names have been in the news in recent weeks. Several of Lewis' female former co-stars accused him of sexual harassment and punitive behavior in an article on Feb. 23 in Vanity Fair. And Hefner's former girlfriends, Playmates and employees alleged a culture of abuse in A&E's documentary series"Secrets of Playboy," which is currently airing.
The internet and social media altered the way people communicate. Newspaper editors and heads of television stations previously called the shots on what was appropriate to talk about. Now? Individuals speak freely, online, whenever they want. "The lines of 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' grief expressions, public conversations about their lives on social media – both positive and negative – and time limits, are immediately blurred and often unacknowledged," saysDifferent cases call for different responses after someone dies, of course, including how someone died. Bryant died at 41 with his daughter Gianna and seven others. Hefner and Lewis died of natural causes.