Steve Irwin passes away (1962 – 2006)

*Refrains from saying anything about comeuppance after years of annoying animals for TV*

Ok, yeah, he died. A certain respect for the dead is necessary. But I lost all respect for him when he held his own child in front of a crocodile.

Do we dare mock death? Are we that superficial? Here goes … ahm …

RIPped in peace(s)?

With all the things this man has done, he gets killed by Stingray. who would thunk it? Its a shame he didnt think of his wife and kids first.

I am so glad you didn’t make fun of this one superficial man. Steve was a great entertainer, whether people took him seriously or not. My prayers are with his family and friends.

Ok, that comment looks really heartless, but honestly, I’m not celebrating his death or anything. I think I’d feel worse if he died in a car accident or something. I can’t feel /that/ bad for a guy I never liked and I’ve never met in real life.

This reminds me of guy who was obsessed with bears … what was his name?? Help me out.

I feel bad for his family, eh, poor guy. But as #1, he lost my respect after the child/crocidile incident.

I think, to cheer everyone up, the superficial man needs to post the story about what Banksy did to Paris Hilton’s CDs. Fantastic.

his death this morning has come as a shock to a lot of people here in australia…noones actually sure if his wife knows about it yet, apparently shes off bush walking in tasmania

He came, he saw, he annoyed. But eventhough he annoyed man and animal alike, it still took huuuuge balls to jump on crocs like that. RIP

he died doing what he lived for.

can’t get any clearer than that.

aussie icon.

Steve was pretty insane, but in a good way. I will surely miss watching his escapades. He was awesome.

haitchw you moron they’ve already said on the news that Teri has broke the news to their two kids.

Yeah maybe he did a few stupid things… But for Australia this is a really sad thing. He truly loved animals and no matter what you think. Death is always a sad thing. Have some respect.

This is so sad. He has two children. I know he tempted fate over and over again, but who would have thought a sting ray would kill him? I have never heard of a sting ray killing anyone before.

TIME says that it was a freak thing where the ray stabbed him in the heart. Had it hit him anywhere else he would probably be alive.

I feel so sorry for his family.

ooops, was going by the sydney morning heralds report from a few hours ago, i havn’t checked the news since then

#14, I agree, I feel sorry for his children especially. I know what it’s like to lose your father. It can’t make me like him. Suddenly thinking ‘oh, actually, I loved him’ would be ridiculous. I didn’t ‘love’ him, I didn’t like him, but he didn’t deserve to die.

I don’t care what anyone says, when my 10 year old son finds out he is going to be upset. We have spent lots of time together watching Steve on TV. My son does a great Steve Irwin impression too “I am going to wrestle this crocodile, then I am going to poopy in my pants” – in an Austrialian accent.

SI was one celebrity who did not act like a jackass – like his show or not. I will miss him.

Why couldn’t Paris Hilton have been stung instead?

I hate it when people feign concern for someone they viewed as a joke one day before they died tragically. I have nothing but sympathy for the family but the vast majority of Australians would have laughed at the man two days ago and that is a fact to which you can set your watch. I will be grinding my teeth as I don’t read the newspapers I never did read in the first place while they eulogize a man they viewed with thinly veiled disdain up until now.

Having seen the man in action at Australia Zoo, it is easy to laugh about this if you were only exposed to him through your television.

His infectious enthusiasm and passion for wildlife will be greatly missed by those who appreciate conservation.

However, he will not be forgotten.

#19, You put it much better than me. I have nothing against the family, I feel for the children because I can somewhat relate, but I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I found poking snakes and generally being over the top with everything to be great viewing.

I am surprised he made it this long. I mean from an animal’s point of view the guy was downright annoying as fuck. “Watch me stick my finger up this crocodile’s arse and see what he thinks about it! WHOA CRIKEY!! That got him worked up into a tizzy!!!” I mean although entertaining it was only a matter of time.

R.I.P. Croc dude.

there’s only been 3 other (reported) cases of death by stingray EVER. tragic way to go, but at least he went doing what he loved. he was a devout father, aussie icon and strong animal conservist. in fact he put the majority of his profits (in the millions) into animal welfare, living a fairly humble life himself. his family will be crushed.

to comment #2: he’s been doing this stuff since he was a toddler; it’s his life. of course he thought of his children and wife. what a stupid and disrespectful thing to say…

I agree with #23. Total Aussie icon. I have huge respect for him. He did a lot to bring wildlife to millions of ignorant hacks. I’m sure both him and his wife knew what they were getting themselves into while doing their jobs. Comes with the territory, soldiers get shot to pieces, environmentalists get taken out by wild animals. Which one’s more natural? Respect Steve.

#19 puh-lease. Don’t try and speak for the majority of Australians. Obviously your ‘thinly veiled disdain’ prevented you from appreciating all the great things he did – from his many conservation programs, to his promotion of Australia internationally and the thousands of tourists his zoo attracted to Queensland.

Did people laugh at him? Sure.

Was the baby/crocodile incident mad? Yep.

Does that mean he doesn’t deserve to be applauded and remembered for his achievements? HELL NO

Its a tragedy every time somebody dies regardless of the person, but this is the man who was SINGLE-HANDEDLY responsible for people all around the world who, when they thought of the word “Australian,” they immediately imagined a loud, hyperactive moron who runs around sticking his head in front of (and probably in) dangerous creatures, yells obviously Australian catch-phrases (such as “CRIKEY!” “YOU BLOODY RIPPER!” and the like) every minute of the day and, to top it off, has a thing for ugly American women.

Okay, I’m sure Paul Newman is to blame a little as well, but fuck it. I like him.

#18: Look on the bright side, I’m sure if she keeps calling people niggers, she’s eventually gonna get stabbed in the heart too.

#25 I don’t claim to speak for all Australians. I am merely passing on the thoughts of each and every single Australian that I ever heard utter a few words about Steve Irwin. Not one word was neutral let alone positive. Obviously we both live in very different Australias.

Hooray for clowning myself. PAUL HOGAN. I guess I’m really not that Australian after all.

#27 Let’s not bicker and bore everyone…

I’m sure you’re right and we do live in different Australias – it seems each and every single Australian you know is as ignorant about the convservation of our wildlife and the benefits of attracting tourism to the economy as you are.
Thank God there’s another Australia, hey?

@ #13: You’re a bloody moron yourself, mate. His daughter was over in Queensland, while his wife was wandering around Tasmania… Not the kind of news you pass on to your eight-year-old on the phone methinks…

I’m actually kind of sad about this. He seemed a friendly and goodnatured man – sure, a tad crazy, but harmless and passionate about what he did. I hope he died straightaway, without knowledge of what was going on, doing what he loved the most. It’s so horribly ironic he died due to some freak accident whereas he’s shown the world how to handle the most notoriously dangerous animals…

I heard the news on the radio when I was on the bus home (currently staying in Australia). You should have heard the general reaction of everyone there: shock, compassion and a lot of “but how?”

Poor bloke, poor family.

Sooo… does this mean there’s video of it?

Who knows what he was doing with that stingray when it ended his life. Something stupid, no doubt. I do feel sorry for his wife and kid, but he’s been pushing his luck for quite some time. Are we going to mourn the day Johnny Knoxville dies racing down a cliff in a cardboard box? I certainly hope not.

Who knows what he was doing with that stingray when it ended his life. Something stupid, no doubt. I do feel sorry for his wife and kid, but he’s been pushing his luck for quite some time. Are we going to mourn the day Johnny Knoxville dies racing down a cliff in a cardboard box? I certainly hope not.

Yes steve irwin was a very eccentric guy who kept pouncing on animals, harrasing them to the full extent, kept provoking them constantly on his shows. but he did ALOT to help all these animals.

He ran the zoo after his father, and gave lots of his money to animal charities. Even though he does all these to the animals you can see it in his eyes that he loves them. He was just trying to teach people about the animals he loved in his very own style.

I’ve always wished he would finally get bitten or injured so he would stop annoying the animals and instead stand a few meters away and give the presentation like a normal zoologist or animal trainer.

But when he died i felt something in me that i didn’t think i would experience. It was sorrow. I already miss his shows. (I used to watch his shows when i was young with my dad). Sure he had his “errors” but in my book he was a great man.

R.I.P Steve

Very sad way to go. Although I rarely watched his show I did see a skit about him in South Park which was hilarious. To quote a line from one of my favorite movies, “He died with his boots on” or in this case he was probably wearing flippers. May he rest in peace and my prayers are with his family.

So, sorry he was young. I thought of him as a protector and lover of the earth’s creatures. He will be missed.
May our thoughts be with his family

Crikey! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I think my lasting impression of him came in an interview when somebody was like “You’ve spent your life working with crocodiles. Do they think of you as one of them? Can you communicate with them? Do they naturally trust you?” And he flatly said “They hate me.” He knew all the animals he handled would try to kill him, he knew they were outrageously dangerous, but he spent time with them anyways because he was genuinely interested in their safety, preservation and well-being. There was a show where he was working with this snake and it was SPITTING VENOM INTO HIS EYES multiple times before he finally put on a pair of goggles.

He knew that man isn’t going to get along with the forces of nature no matter how he tries, but that didn’t stop his love for them. A crazy, bizarre, stereotypical, shrieky guy sometimes, but he had the greatest love for his work, no matter how many times it tried to kill him.

Rest well, sir.

Thats harrible. He doyed.

This is confirmed right? We sure this isn’t a hoax? I didn’t know stingrays could pierce you through the chest?? This wasn’t on my morning news either..

hoax? anyone?

Hey #6 that was Marty Staufer.

Oh jeez.. it is true heres a link:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,20349888-2,00.html?from=public_rss

He died doing what he loved the most, it’s like Paris Hilton dying with two cocks in her mouth and one pund of cocaine in each nose hole.

There have been 17 deaths by a stingray WORLDWIDE..? wtf??

I couldn’t believe it when I read above that Steve likes “Ugly, American Women.” In a time of grief, rudeness like that is extremely infantile.
Terri Irwin is anything bug ugly and she complimented Steve perfectly. What a great family they were–both naturists. I just can’t believe that there are such f*cking immature people in the world that have to poke fun at a tragedy.
Here’s a clue, let’s make fun of those that died on September 11, 2001. No? I thought not. Grow up, I mean seriously.
God bless the Irwin family.

*anything but ugly

#32 he wasn’t doing anything to it. He swam over top of it and it was buried under the sand. I’m sure if he had known the ray was there this wouldn’t have happened.

Some of you call him crazy for doing his job. That’s right, his JOB. No different than the guy that fights fires, or the policeman that chases bad guys. You think those guys don’t think about their families? Sure they do, but someone has to do the job, and they do. Calling him crazy for that or saying that he loved his family less for putting himself at risk is just wrong. I could sit here a list job after job that’s just as dangerous or more than his was. He died doing exactly what he has always loved to do. I’m american. When I think of Australia, I think of Steve. I’m sure its a great country, but Steve helped put them on the map. He was their best advertisement and now he’s gone. I would think that #25 is correct. Most of Australia is morning this one, and will be for a long time.

I’ll say one thing. I love this site and all the crap you guys give to the celebs daily. But it’s nice to see that noone is taking that route on this one. Even the ones that are negative towards Steve, are doing it out of opinion rather than just to have fun or be mean.

Does this mean Jeff Corwin is next? I’d hate to see him die suddenly.

@43, damn you stupid funny