Filmmaker Tony Scott jumped to his death on Sunday, off a bridge in Southern California. Early reports from ABC News (which were copy-pasted by TMZ, HuffPo, and other outlets) that the "Top Gun" director killed himself after learning that he had an inoperable brain tumor were apparently false.

  • milkman

    Isn’t the first rule of journalism to verify?  Well, I have sources close to him that said he committed suicide because his other brother Michael Scott quit The Office.

    • http://burntheflag.ca Jardine

      The first rule of journalism is to report everything first. Even if it’s just some random rumour going around that if you thought about it for a minute would sound unlikely.

      • Paul Renault

        And the Second Rule of Journalism is to ask your drinking buddies for their ideas and report these as expert opinions.

      • Sigmund_Jung

        The first rule of journalism is do not talk about journalism

  • http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

    Out of respect I have not made any ‘Danger Zone’ jokes, references, or puns.

  • http://www.aarongilliland.com/ Aaron Gilliland

    So it really was from reading the Top Gun Reloaded script.

  • endymion

    fwiw, tmz.com is kind of icky, but they actually check their sources very well, and they rarely get it wrong. In this case, I’m almost positive they did not make a report about the tumor.

  • Culturedropout

    My first thought on seeing the headline was, “Well, I’m sure he’ll be relieved to hear tha…  Oh.  Coroner.  Nevermind.”