As I’m sure you’ve heard by now Mac Miller died at the far too young age of 26 last week from a suspected drug overdose. I’ve already blogged about how important his music was to me and a lot of other people my age and how his death was the most recent celebrity death that has actually hit me hard. As time goes on more details have been coming out about what happened that night/morning last week. The only evidence of drug use found at Miller’s residence was a small amount of white powder, but authorities believe his friends sanitized the house of all drugs and paraphenalia before police arrived. Toxicology results from the autopsy won’t come back for weeks or maybe even months, but a drug overdose still seems like the most probable cause of death as of now. Today TMZ, who were also were the first to break the story of his death, obtained audio from the 911 call that was made when his body was found. It’s heavily edited (Which I think is a good thing) but it seems clear that Mac is already dead at the time of the call, and something in the friend’s voice tells me he knows that too. Because I don’t agree with the practice of it, I’m not gonna post the call. If you really want to listen to it you can find it yourself pretty easily on the world wide web.

The last 2 sentences of the previous paragraph touch at why I decided to write this blog. Although this 911 call is relatively tame in terms of what happens in it, I’ve just never understood why releasing an emergency call is a consistent thing. Whenever a celebrity dies unexpectedly all of the asshole tabloids like TMZ get their hands on the 911 call and release it to the world. Even worse, major news networks will sometimes play these calls on TV. Why? What is the point of making what should be a very private call like that available for public consumption? The news also always provides dumb commentary about how frantic the caller is and how upset they seem. Uhh, ya think? 99.9% of the time those calls come from a friend or family member who just found their loved one dead or dying, so no shit they’re gonna be scared and emotional. Show me somebody that calls 911 and calmly explains that they need an ambulance immediately and I’ll show you a kick in the nuts for acting as if such a person exists.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had to call 911 to report an emergency before but that shit is stressful. I saw a bad car accident happen right in front of me when I was walking home once in middle school and both drivers were unresponsive when I went over, and I’d later find out that one of them was dead. I whipped out my Motorola Razr (Classic phone) and called 911. I know I was only 12 at the time, but I was shaking the entire time while making that call and for a good amount of time afterwards. Your mind is fucking racing and your voice trembles no matter how hard you try to steady it. If that’s how I reacted to seeing a stranger die in front of me, I can only imagine what it’s like to make a 911 call after finding a loved one in that condition.

As you’ve probably been able to tell from my past blogs and overall demeanor in writing I don’t get offended easily, but for some reason this shit really irks me. There are very few things that I think should be off limits but even I’ll concede on that point and say that 911 calls should be. People like privacy, and if we didn’t all bathrooms wouldn’t have doors or stalls and houses would have glass walls. The only purpose of a 911 call is to report that help is needed and here’s where. What was said on that call should have stayed between Mac Miller’s friend, the dispatcher, and the responding EMS, that’s it. And this isn’t just because I’m a fan of Mac Miller, I feel the same way about any 911 call. Certain things don’t need to be heard by every ear on earth, and a hysterical 911 call made by somebody that’s in the middle of an emergency is definitely one of those things. If you don’t believe me, just ask Dave Chappelle because he agrees with me