Nobody knows if Heath Ledger died from a drug overdose or not, but there's a video floating about of Heath at a drug-filled party, so probably yes.
That seems to be the assumption of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, though – the shows were set to broadcast the Heath Ledger drug video tonight, but they've both changed their mind and will now leave the video unseen.
Why? Well it was either because they got a sudden pang of guilt about intruding on a celebrity's intimate personal experiences or because they'd rather devote more airtime to discussing exactly how doolally Britney Spears went before she got carted off to the nuthouse. Who knows.
It's been over a week since Heath Ledger died now, and nobody's any clearer about the exact cause of his death. Depending on who you listen to, Heath Ledger either died from natural causes or an accidental drug overdose or a deliberate drug overdose or he drove Jack Nicholson's car off a cliff or something. Until the results of his toxicology tests are returned, his death looks likely to remain a mystery.
But just because people don't know if drugs killed Heath Ledger, that wasn't going to stop celebrity TV shows from strongly implying that they probably did. Last night, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider trailed a video they'd purchased featuring Heath Ledger drinking beer at a party where an unidentified man is seen snorting cocaine. While at no point is Heath Ledger actually seen taking drugs, the trailer package also showed that bloke from Celebrity Rehab With Dr Drew calling the vieo 'heartbreaking'.
Also in the video, Heath Ledger is seen claiming that he'd get in trouble with his girlfriend for attending the party, drinking some beer and claiming that he used to smoke five joints a day for 20 years. That's 9,125 joints in total and, given that Heath was 28 when he died, that's some serious dedication for an eight-year-old to make.
However, you're not going to be able to see the Heath Ledger drug party video because Entertainment Tonight and The Insider have decided to pull it. The Associated Press reports:
"Entertainment Tonight" says it won't air a video it has acquired
that shows the late Heath Ledger at a Hollywood party where drugs were
apparently being taken. The syndicated magazine's sister show,
"The Insider," aired a "preview" of the video Wednesday that showed an
unidentified man apparently snorting cocaine. The show said, however,
that the video does not show Ledger doing drugs. "Out of respect
for Heath Ledger's family, `Entertainment Tonight' and `The Insider'
have decided not to run the Heath Ledger video that has been
circulating in the world media," said a posting on the Web sites
Thursday.
One potential reason for this sudden change of mind is that a number of big movie stars threatened to boycott the shows if the video was broadcast, in a move apparently started by Heath's PR firm ID, whose clients also include Natalie Portman and Robin Williams. That's clearly hitting them where it hurts, because on a quiet news day nothing fills up the dead air more than interviews where Robin Williams has long, unintelligable three-way conversations with himself.
So nobody will ever see this Heath Ledger drug video, and that's the way it'll stay, at least until someone invents a way for people to somehow watch videos through their computers. But that technology is decades away, so it looks like we're all in the clear.
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