Talk:Andy Kaufman

Andy Kaufman: Dead or Alive?

I have to leave for the weekend, therefore since I can't follow this up, please feel free to act as you feel appropriate:

Andy Kaufman died on May 16, 1984. He said that if he were to fake his own death, he'd re-emerge 20 years later (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/andy_returns/) (more info in the link). Maybe this can be featured as a brief event notice somewhere on the 'pedia. Some might want to know about it in advance, even if only to remember the character. I didn't know where to put this information, and whether it's appropriate, so here it is, in case anyone cares. --Gutza 13:14, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

One can only hope. Anyway, I mentioned it in the article. Alcarillo 15:37, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Today I read a press release that Kaufman is alive, and May 16 was only a couple days ago. So either the death was a hoax or this "revival" is...which is which? (EDIT: The late Andy Kaufman is, alas, still late. Oh, well.)

--Furrykef 01:07, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

It's a hoax - see the link to Snopes at the bottom of the article. --bodnotbod 00:51, May 21, 2004 (UTC)

I found that (I'm a regular reader of snopes) -- hence my edit to my post. :) --Furrykef 02:05, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

Oops. Sorry. I've just added Snopes What's New to my "Watch That Page" list (non Wikipedia watching device). --bodnotbod 21:31, May 21, 2004 (UTC)

How do we stand if we want to publish a photo of Andy Kaufman? Obviously, we cannot take one and Gnu FDL it as he's gone - are there any photots which may be in the public domain which we could obtain?

Our options are:

1. Get a current photo owner to release one under the GFDL
2. Wait until one enters the public domain (creator's life plus 75 yrs)
3. Try and justify one under fair use. This is problematic at best; talk to User:Jamesday or raise a question on Wikipedia:Help desk and Wikipedia:Village pump.

Good luck, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 06:52, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks - Andy died some time ago now and it may be difficult to even find the creator of these images. Kabads 07:10, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I changed the following passage on his death:

Kaufman apparently died on May 16, 1984 of lung cancer and was allegedly interred in the Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, New York (Long Island).

To this:

Kaufman died on May 16, 1984 of lung cancer and was interred in the Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, New York (Long Island).

It doesn't really seem to be fitting og an encyclopedic article to be so ambiguous about the confirmed death of a modern celebrity. Peter Isotalo 17:55, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

A lot of people really believe he faked his death, and for NPOV the ambiguity has to exist. Andre (talk) 19:20, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

You can't cast doubts over easily verifiable facts like the death of a person by adding such obvious POV-wording. Either he's dead and buried or someone better present some very credible evidence that he isn't. There is no middle ground here. This kind of wording isn't even used in the article on Elvis, even though the amount of crackpot conspiracy theorists focusing on the second coming of the King must outnumber the "Andy Kaufman lives"-fanclub by at least 1000:1.

Peter Isotalo 15:25, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Well, then the Elvis article needs work, not the Andy Kaufman article. I myself am not a crackpot conspiracy theorist, but a number of people believe that Kaufman faked his death, and this view should have equality. That's the nature of NPOV. Maybe the way we currently have it is too strong, but I think the way you had it changed to was too weak. Andre (talk) 02:28, May 9, 2005 (UTC)