Fox News Host Gibson Cracks a Series of Tasteless Jokes About Heath Ledger's Death

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 4:04 PM on January 23, 2008.

Opening his radio show with funeral music yesterday, Fox News host John Gibson callously mocked the death of actor Heath Ledger, calling him a "weirdo" with a "serious drug problem."

Playing an audio clip of the iconic quote, "I wish I knew how to quit you" from Ledger's gay romance movie Brokeback Mountain, Gibson disdainfully quipped, "Well, he found out how to quit you." Laughing, Gibson then played another clip from Brokeback Mountain in which Ledger said, "We're dead," followed by his own, mocking "We're dead" before playing the clip again.

Throughout the course of the show, Gibson continued to bring up Ledger's death while discussing current events, jokingly claiming that current events may have caused him to commit suicide.

On yesterday's drop in the stock market:

GIBSON: Maybe he had a serious position in the market.

TOM SULLIVAN: And possibly today, he looked at the window and said...

GIBSON: "Oh my God."

SULLIVAN: His name's not Keith Bledger, right?

GIBSON: He was depressed about yesterday's downturn in the world stock markets.

On the Democratic debate in South Carolina:

GIBSON: Apparently Heath Ledger was suicidal and his friends saw it coming. I think he watched the Clinton-Obama debate last night. I think he was an Edwards guy, cause he saw his Edwards guy was just completely irrelevant.

In reality, New York City Police spokesman Paul J. Browne told the New York Times that there was "no obvious indication of suicide."

You stay classy, John Gibson.

UPDATE: In 2006, when Brokeback Mountain was released, Gibson repeatedly made fun of the film, calling it "a gay agenda movie."

UPDATE II: Gibson is making light of the outrage caused by his remarks. Read about it here.

Tagged as: gibson, fox news, homophobia, ledger, brokeback mountain

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.