Entertainment blogger earns ridicule by mentioning Mandela movie in obit tweet
Former Deadline reporter Nikki Finke talked about the Oscar buzz for the new Nelson Mandela biopic while memorializing the South African leader. The #FinkeObits hashtag took off from there.
R.I.P. Nelson Mandela, subject of Weinstein Co’s Idris Elba-starrer ‘Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom’ which opened Nov 29 and has awards buzz.
— Nikki Finke (@NikkiFinke) December 5, 2013
The initial reaction to the tweet was some rather strong anger—quite a few of the tweets we can’t republish here. Let’s just say people thought discussing a biopic’s Oscar buzz immediately after news of Mandela’s death was in poor taste. Eventually, Finke’s perceived insensitivity became a joke, however, as things often do on Twitter. Users started the #FinkeObits hashtag to combine even more deaths of public figures with movie news:
RIP Osama Bin Laden, antagonist of the films UNITED 93 and WORLD TRADE CENTER, neither of which won Best Picture. #FinkeObits
— Drew Morton (@thecinemadoctor) December 5, 2013
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