Tom Petty’s Heart Attack Sets Off National Heartbreak

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Tom Petty, who died on October 2, 2017, pictured at one of his concerts.

Victoria Bridges, Ranger Review Reporter

 

Early in the morning on October 2nd, 2017, Tom Petty fell to a cardiac arrest, which cost him his life later that day. He was found unconscious in his home and was taken to the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California.

Tom Petty was a legendary rock star who initially got involved with music at the age of 10 when he met Elvis Presley, from then on, he had fallen in love with the stage. With a plethora of hit songs from his solo career and from his involvement with “Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers” and “Traveling Wilburys”, he became famous.

Misleading reports, however, released wrong information, telling readers that Petty had already been presumed dead hours before his actual passing. Later on, the magazines then backed out on their previous reports, saying that Tom Petty was actually clinging to life, not yet dead.

These posts lead to a national controversy. His family, friends, fans, and other celebrities became infuriated with Rolling Stone, CBS, PEOPLE, Variety, and The Huffington Post. Backlashing at the magazines for their reports on Petty, they claimed that the posts were disrespecting his honor.

How dare you report that my father has died just to get press because your articles and photos are so dated…This is my father, not a celebrity. An artist and human being.” said Annakim Violette, daughter of Tom Petty, on an Instagram lash towards the magazine Rolling Stone for wrongly reporting Petty’s death.

This is not the first time however, that something like this has occurred in the celebrity world. Kurt Cobain was reported dead by CNN a month before he actually passed, along with a report from a gossip article that Nora Ephron had passed hours before she had died.

It was later confirmed that Tom Petty was taken off of life support at 8:40 PM EST. The confirmation of his death leads to an overwhelming amount of posts directed towards the family of the late musical legend. Celebrity singers and actors such as John Mayer, Paul Mccartney, Elton John, Bon Jovi, and others all paid tribute to the singer on social media.

Coldplay performed “Free Fallin’” and Sheryl Crow performed “If It Makes You Happy” as a tribute to the icon. The nation was harshly affected by the death of Tom Petty and the confusion of his supposed “coming back to life”. However, fans have proven that he will not be forgotten.