Sharon Waxman Tones Down HFPA Suicide Headline

Late yesterday afternoon, the following e-mail news bulletin was fired off from the TheWrap: “EXCLUSIVE: New HFPA Bombshell – Longtime Member Commits Suicide”

Immediately, readers started piling on in the comments section, disgusted at how article author Sharon Waxman had sensationally headline-connected the circa January 17th suicide of Hollywood Foreign Press Association member Max B. Miller (pictured), a 73-year-old photographer, with the organization’s other recent travails. Here’s just a small sample of the outraged reader comments:

[This site just sad now]: Sharon – are you really this desperate for traffic? Is getting your head handed to you by Nikki Finke on a daily basis having this deep an effect on your standards? You used to work for the NY Times, for God’s sake. At long last, have you no decency?

[SBOB]: I CANNOT BELIEVE your irresponsibility in linking this man’s tragic circumstances and death to the HFPA as if they have any direct relationship of any kind. Shame on you! The HFPA awards show is not fooling anyone – we get it – we get your disgust – we get your journalistic need to expose them but the only BOMBSHELL here is it is time for us all to move on.

As of early this morning (7:55 a.m.), the article had been heavily redacted, with a new headline (“HFPA: Member’s Suicide Unrelated to Group”), an angry echo from a group spokesperson that this had everything to do with the man’s personal situation (divorce, finances) and the removal of some inaccurate info related to Miller’s absence from the Globes red carpet. The piece is also now co-bylined by Brent Lang.

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