Mark Balelo.
The name may be familiar to you, due to his brief appearances on the Reality TV show "Storage Wars."
This is not my regular article on a "Junk Celeb." Some respect of privacy is warranted, in my opinion. I realize that I do just relate "facts" I have found online and elsewhere, but seeing as I had yet to really delve heavily into researching his background, I simply will not personally do that right now, out of respect.
If you still do not know who "Mark Balelo" is, he apeared on Storage Wars a few times and was the guy they nicknamed Rico Suave. Still not ringing a bell? He also carried a murse. Remember him now?
You can decide for yourself which definition of Rico Suave they were going for....if you click on the highlighted "Rico Suave" in the previous paragraph you will bring up a page from www.urbandictionary.com, who give 6 definitions of this term.
Personally, when he first appeared on the show, I actually felt sad for the guy. My first impression was that something did not seem "right" in it all. Couldn't place my finger on it immediately, but something was "off" with him, as far as I was concerned. However, that said, Storage Wars being a TV program, that well could have been intentionally created by the producer(s). All part of creating a fantasy by setting things up, editing scenes heavily, camera angles, manipulation/fabrication of situations, etc, etc, etc.
So, seeing as I did not know the guy, I didn't bother to comment. I still don't know anything about him in his "real life.".
Regardless of what I, or you, or anyone else thought of the guy, he is now dead. Despite reports that he committed suicide, the facts really still have not been officially released as of the writing of this blog. They may never be released in their entirety at all. Even if all the facts were released, the "rest of the story" may never ever be made public knowledge.
So, despite the guy's "TV persona", I will not make any judgements. I never knew the guy personally, nor any of his close friends or family, and I know from experience that what you see on TV is not always entirely (or at all) representative of the real person.
Whatever the story really is, we might want to just cut the guy some slack now...After all, he is dead, and perhaps we need to learn to show some respect for the dead, and if not for the dead themselves, then for their families & friends who are in mourning right now.
Media goes over the line of decency sometimes; sadly all too often. It is really is up to the public to make the decision to pull back and respect the person that, for all intents and purposes, they really did not know. The family, friends and associates of this person also need even more to be respected, and perhaps even protected.
Just yesterday I heard tale of a media crew going to the family residence of a young pilot and his two sons, who all, along with a young friend of the boys, were tragically killed in an accidental plane crash here in rural south-western Manitoba.
The fact they went to interview them is not unusual....but the the media crew went there at 1:00 AM. The last time you were in mourning for a close relative, what were you doing at 1:00 AM a day after their death(s)? And how about if they died entirely unexpectedly? And were young, healthy, and children? And were your husband and children? I'm sorry, but if I had been a neighbor and/or friend of the family and found out the media crew was bothering them at 1:00 AM, I'd have flipped out....
Where is the respect? Famous or not, when news involves someone's death, perhaps media should proceed with some common sense, and step back from being the ones to get that "scoop", and give the family some time to grieve.
Now, this is all just my opinion.
However, if you were to step into the shoes of family members of any person/people who end up in the media mainly due to their sudden demise, you may find that you will suddenly realize that you have the same opinion as I do.
Here are some articles on his death, and I will add more as I come across them, good, bad and ugly. You can decide which "cross the line," if any, or if all. You will find there is a broad range on views and statements, even just in the headings of the articles, from as simple and innocuous as things as basic and banal as "Mark Balelo Dead" to the completely unconfirmed, and some over the top statements in the vein of "Mark Balelo Gassed and Killed Himself Due To Despondency Because Of His Conviction of Possessing Illegal Drugs !" Yes, they tend to vary...some are subtle, some are not so subtle!
Just click on the highlighted areas and they will bring up a page with the articles. Until then, we may have to wait until Doug Limerick* does Mark's story.
(*Doug Limerick hosts ABC's "The Rest Of The Story" which was formerly narrated by Paul Harvey)
Some of the articles I found were spot on, identical, "regurgitations" of another sites' stories, and as I found a few that were near identical, I have not included those. Some of these are similar, but have enough difference that I put them in my list anyway. Apologies if they are so similar they begin to bore you...but I didn't write 'em!
Huffington Post
National Post
TMZ
OMG From Yahoo News
Fox News (they even managed to slip in a mention of Dave Hester's lawsuit against A&E!)
Toronto Sun
MSN Entertainment - TV News
US Weekly
Hollywood Life (Warning! There is an audio/video ad that will start on this article's page!)
Mail Online (UK Daily Mail)
E! Online
Seattle Pi
Not an article, but many (and continuing) comments on REDDIT
Akron News Now
****NOTE: If any of these become "dead links", feel free to let me know!
MORE LINKS may be added as time goes on....!
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