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Can a Father's Day greeting be belated, or is it better left unsaid? Join us for a rollercoaster of an episode where we blend humor with tragedy, starting with a spirited debate on the etiquette of belated holiday greetings. From Father's Day to National Donut Day, we leave no stone unturned. But it’s not all laughs—things take a darker turn as we recount tragic real-life events tied to Father's Day, beginning with the shocking murder of Marvin Gaye by his own father.
We dive deep into the complex, troubled relationship between Marvin Gaye and his father, Marvin Gaye Sr., exploring the strict discipline Marvin faced in his childhood, coupled with societal pressures and family tensions. From Marvin’s groundbreaking album "What's Going On" to his paranoia-stricken final tour, we trace the singer's life riddled with mental health struggles and substance abuse. An eerie contemplation on encountering Marvin's spirit in the Pacific Ocean, where his ashes were scattered, adds a surreal touch to our discussion.
Finally, we examine the aftermath of Marvin Gaye's death, including the legal proceedings involving his father, Marvin Sr. We discuss Marvin Sr.'s incarceration, the discovery of his brain tumor, and his eventual plea deal. The episode also covers the profound emotional responses from friends, peers, and fans worldwide, while touching on the broader implications of mental health issues within the criminal justice system. Tune in for a gripping and emotionally charged exploration of familial conflict, mental health, and the enduring impact of Marvin Gaye’s legacy.
Come share your stories with us or chat on Telegram
Can a Father's Day greeting be belated, or is it better left unsaid? Join us for a rollercoaster of an episode where we blend humor with tragedy, starting with a spirited debate on the etiquette of belated holiday greetings. From Father's Day to National Donut Day, we leave no stone unturned. But it’s not all laughs—things take a darker turn as we recount tragic real-life events tied to Father's Day, beginning with the shocking murder of Marvin Gaye by his own father.
We dive deep into the complex, troubled relationship between Marvin Gaye and his father, Marvin Gaye Sr., exploring the strict discipline Marvin faced in his childhood, coupled with societal pressures and family tensions. From Marvin’s groundbreaking album "What's Going On" to his paranoia-stricken final tour, we trace the singer's life riddled with mental health struggles and substance abuse. An eerie contemplation on encountering Marvin's spirit in the Pacific Ocean, where his ashes were scattered, adds a surreal touch to our discussion.
Finally, we examine the aftermath of Marvin Gaye's death, including the legal proceedings involving his father, Marvin Sr. We discuss Marvin Sr.'s incarceration, the discovery of his brain tumor, and his eventual plea deal. The episode also covers the profound emotional responses from friends, peers, and fans worldwide, while touching on the broader implications of mental health issues within the criminal justice system. Tune in for a gripping and emotionally charged exploration of familial conflict, mental health, and the enduring impact of Marvin Gaye’s legacy.
And happy Father's Day to everyone out there. What's going on, that is, catching this today, or if you're catching it tomorrow, then happy belated.
Speaker 3:Does that work for this holiday?
Speaker 2:I have no idea. Happy belated.
Speaker 3:Father's Day. That just sounds sad Like your kids. Happy belated Father's Day. That just sounds sad Like your kids forgot that it was.
Speaker 2:Father's Day, well, but I mean, couldn't you have a happy belated? What do they have? National Donut Day. If you just missed the party, wasn't aware that it was National Donut Day.
Speaker 3:Sir, what the fuck are you talking about?
Speaker 2:I'm just trying to see how does a belated work for every holiday some holidays I'm going to say it only works for like birthdays.
Speaker 3:See, that's not fair, that seems like if you can use it for a birthday, you should be able to use it for all subsequential holidays. So you're saying there's like a national, like free pizza slice day and you miss it by a day. You can show up the next day and be like, hey, happy belated national pizza day, I want my slice.
Speaker 2:Yes. That's not how that works Well, it should be.
Speaker 3:No, Even happy belated birthday kind of doesn't work, that's just shitty. That's like you straight up tell them like hey, I straight up forgot your birthday, but here's a consolation birthday.
Speaker 2:I've been like hey, my bad, I forgot, but happy birthday.
Speaker 3:Boo on you, sir, boo on you At least I was honest. Boo on you, I didn't pull that belated.
Speaker 2:I was just like hey, man, shit got busy and I forgot to wish you happy birthday. So happy birthday.
Speaker 3:You don't get points for honesty on this. Boo on you. You still forgot. Well, I mean, this was a long time ago. Yes, well, happy father's day yes, happy father's day.
Speaker 2:Narrator and happy father's day to you too, monsieur defy oh, thank you.
Speaker 3:And as it being father's day, as we do with most holidays, yeah, we have some fucked up stories for you guys relating to the holiday yeah, fucked up father's day stories and, uh, son's Father's Day stories. Yeah, so the concept of what we did here was we did the flip side on both. We did a father killing a son and then a son killing a father.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Pure brutality and it's kind of not the prettiest, but goddamn, this world is fucked.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's really fucked, dude. When I was doing the research for my story, I was like I had to stop a couple times. I was like this is really fucked up. I was like I don't like this man, this fucking, this sucks. Boo this man. No, I mean boo the guy who killed. Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what I mean.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, not you?
Speaker 2:I thought you meant me. I was like what?
Speaker 3:the fuck did I do? I'm just doing research, man.
Speaker 2:It's all for the cast man.
Speaker 3:Man Well, since yours seems like it could be the more fucked up one why don't we go with the more fucked up first and save the I don't think as fucked up we?
Speaker 2:could do that, but my story is very long. It's all good. All we got is time. All right, guys buckle in.
Speaker 3:We're about to hear some fucked up shit.
Speaker 2:It's okay, he's a limo driver.
Speaker 3:No, all right. So my story is on the killing of Motown singer Marvin Gaye.
Speaker 2:What's Motown?
Speaker 3:It is the record label and it's also kind of like the little genre of the music. It's kind of like soul and R&B. I think actually you have a Marvin Gaye album like the vinyls that I think you had from your father, right?
Speaker 2:It might have been. I don't remember what all albums he's given, but he gave a shit, yeah, I remember that when we're going through him I had seen uh, was it marvin gaye's?
Speaker 3:what's going on, where it's just his face on the cover and he's like smiling. Yeah, I remember seeing I was like that's a, that's fucking, that's dope that your dad had that in his collection.
Speaker 2:He likes to party yeah, my dad's an interesting one I like to party, so like my dad's. And I mean he did go up business in the front party in the back when he was younger.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's awesome. Did he also wear a very tiny beanie?
Speaker 2:I don't think he wore a tiny beanie, but he had the, you know the short jorts. Oh no.
Speaker 3:He had the Daisy Dugs. Yeah, like all people wore back in the 70s Did he have the fucking crop top too?
Speaker 2:That I don't know.
Speaker 3:Don't lie to me, bud. I know he was rocking that crop top.
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to look at a picture because I'm not positive.
Speaker 3:You can't handle his midriff.
Speaker 2:No one can handle my midriff shit, jesus Christ. Let me start walking around in crop tops.
Speaker 3:Oh fuck, All right.
Speaker 2:All right, so you ready? Yes, lay it on me, bone daddy.
Speaker 3:This is basically just the information. The way I'm going to break it down, I'm going to give you a quick overview of what happened the circumstances, the killing and then the aftermath All right, let's hear it. So it's going gonna take a while. It's all good, all right. So on april 1st 1984, my birthday minus the year, am I, marvin gay, reincarnated maybe I knew it.
Speaker 2:Do you have that motown funk?
Speaker 3:I got that motown soul wait. Does that mean my dad's gonna kill me?
Speaker 2:I guess we'll give it a couple years and find out bring it on, bitch, I'm ready, all right.
Speaker 3:So on april 1st 1984, american musician marvin gaye, who gained worldwide fame for his work with motown records, was shot and killed on the day before his 45th birthday by his father, marvin gaye senior, jesus fuck. So there's gonna be a lot of like wild shit in the story I'm gonna tell you right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that's a coincidence already that he died before his 45th birthday and, as of this year, it is the 40th anniversary of his death.
Speaker 2:Well, damn Kind of a lot of coinkydinks.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So he was killed by his father, marvin Gaye Sr, at their house in Western Heights. It's a neighborhood in Los Angeles, california. Gaye was shot twice following an altercation with his father after he intervened in an argument between his parents. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center. His father later pleaded no contest to charges of voluntary manslaughter. So you, being a gun aficionado, do you want to try to guess what kind of gun he used?
Speaker 2:Well being. It was back then. I'm going to say more than likely it was, it had to be an old nine.
Speaker 3:A 38 special.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right. Back then it was really big to have pocket guns. Oh yeah, yeah, yep. Oh, that's right. Back then it was really big to have pocket guns. Oh yeah, yeah, yep. Good old 38 probably only had like four or five rounds in the fucking mag and that was it so remember the gun.
Speaker 3:This is gonna play an important part in the story that's why I brought it up. So marvin gay's filicide inspired several musical tributes over the years, including recollections of the incident leading to his death. He was given a burial plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery but was later cremated. His ashes are spread around the Pacific Ocean.
Speaker 2:Damn.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it's kind of like a little kind of introduction to what we're going to go into.
Speaker 2:So my question, and this is partly serious, so my question, and this is a partly serious traveling on that part of the ocean, do you think you can ever see or hear his ghost out there on the water?
Speaker 3:maybe be it and I know this might sound weird, but singing, and I say that just because if it was his passion that might be something he'd be stuck doing or just maybe wandering and trying to figure out what happened I think it would be hard to kind of like distinguish that because, if you think about it, a lot of people have their ashes spread into the pacific ocean I mean a lot of people have died at sea yeah, so more than likely it's gonna be very hard to actually like. That would be an interesting thing just going to the pacific ocean and do a fucking a spirit box oh god, that would be trippy oh yeah we'll plan that out.
Speaker 2:2027 oh jesus, we're gonna get a fucking submarine yes, only it's not gonna be made of carbon fiber yes, it will be.
Speaker 3:It'll make us aerodynamic and fast, oh no, all right, so Marvin Gaye had. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I was still thinking about being aerodynamic.
Speaker 2:In the ocean, I'm sorry. How in the fuck are we aerodynamic underwater?
Speaker 3:Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Marvin Gaye had a bitter relationship with his father, marvin Gaye Sr, since his childhood. Marvin Gaye Sr was a Christian minister and strict disciplinarian who often physically punished his children. You ready for this fact? Yes, in the family's Washington DC neighborhood, which made the younger Marvin a target of bullying due to his sexual ambiguity on the part of his father, as well as rumors of Gay's own homosexuality, and in tribute to one of Gay's favorite singers, sam Cooke, the younger Marvin added an E to his last name when he became famous, kind of to distinguish from his father's name, because his original birth name is, uh, marvin gay, which is marvin, and then gay is gay so to distinguish himself from his father he.
Speaker 3:He spells his name g-a-y-e just to kind of.
Speaker 2:He won't be associated with his dad but that makes you wonder does any of that pent-up aggression from maybe backlash as a cross-dresser back in that time lead to some of this tragedy?
Speaker 3:I feel like it would play a big part of it because, like I said, he was also a minister and he was cross-dressing and everybody knew that that's a fucking no-no right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm assuming back in like, and he was cross-dressing him Everybody knew that that's a fucking no-.
Speaker 3:No, right there, yeah. So I'm assuming back in like this would have been what the 60s, 70s, when he was younger- yeah.
Speaker 3:I feel like that would contribute a lot to like actually being more of an aggressive person due to all that shit. Hmm, so Gay's father never approved of his son's career music and gradually grew resentful that gay was closer to his mother, alberta, and had become the breadwinner for the family. Despite a brief improvement in their relationship after gay found success on the album what's going on, father and son never found any lasting peace, so it's always been known that marvin gaye was closer to his mother and then his father fucking. He really didn't like that.
Speaker 2:See but I've never understood that whole. Like it happens, some are just, you know, mama's boys, mama's girls, some are daddy boys, daddy girls, like you, never really know who's going to take to who like it. Yes, they're going to have that connection, but they're still your fucking kid, it's no different.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but at the same time I feel like Marvin Gaye Sr was mentally ill and then back in that time there wasn't really a lot of outlets for that. So you kind of just.
Speaker 2:Phlebotomy.
Speaker 3:You mean a lobotomy?
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. Phlebotomy is like you want to work with blood. Yes, a lobotomy, where they get that nice ice pick and ram it in your tear duct area and away your brain goes.
Speaker 3:No, well, in this case, maybe let's continue. Let's continue, let's. By 1983, after a period as a european, as a european tax exile, gay had re-entered the public eye with the hit song sexual healing. That's a great song, and its album midnight love. For a time he had also achieved sobriety during the extensive stay in belgium. Returning to the us, he embarked on what would be his final concert tour, titled the Sexual Healing Tour, in San Diego, california, at Humphrey on April 18, 1983. Gay, who had a profound dislike for touring, returned to cocaine abuse to cope with the pressure of the road. And midway through the tour he developed paranoia, paranoia, paranoia over an alleged attempt on his life wearing a bulletproof vest. Uh, until he was on stage. So this man would wear a bulletproof vest up until the moment he was gonna get on stage.
Speaker 2:That's how paranoid he was see, but that makes no sense, because if they're gonna take you out, they can easily do it while you're on stage you also remember he.
Speaker 3:you also have to like take into consideration, remember he. This man was coked out of his mind. True, exactly.
Speaker 2:Left was right, up was diagonal, down was fucking way over there, down was purple yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but he was like coked out and then he was like getting like increasingly paranoid. Hmm, yeah, he was like getting like increasingly paranoid, yeah, when the tour ended in August 18, sorry August 1983, gay, who returned to the U? S to nurse's mother who was recovering from kidney surgery and I had moved into his parents' residency at two one zero one South Gramercy place I'm sorry, I probably butchered that Gramercy place, a home which he bought for them in 1973. I'm sorry, I probably butchered that Gramercy Place, a home which he bought for them in 1973. During his stay, gay's father was absent. That October his father returned from a business trip in Washington during which he purchased insurance on his family's previous residence.
Speaker 3:Initially, gay's sister, gian and Ziola, lived in the house before Marvin Sr returned to the property, but they left shortly afterward. Due to the growing conflict between father and son For the next six months, the two men struggled to keep their distance from one another. During one quarrel at the house, the elder gay called police to have his son leave the property. After staying with one of his sisters, however, gay returned to the property stating to friends of his After all, I have just one father. I want to make peace with him.
Speaker 3:Oof that's foreshadowing right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that unfortunately did not go very well yeah.
Speaker 3:Gian Gay later told Dave Ritz that her father had once told her if Marvin ever touched him he'd kill him. On Christmas Day 1983, gay gave his father a Smith Wesson .38 Special Pistol so that he could protect himself from intruders. Friends and family members contended to the younger Marvin was often suicidal and paranoid and by now was afraid of leaving his room and spoke of little besides suicide and death. Gay sometimes wore three overcoats and put his shoes on the wrong feet. Four days before his death, according to sister gianna, gay had tried to kill himself by jumping out of a speeding sports car, suffering only minor bruises. John contended that there was no doubt marvin wanted to die and that he could take any. He couldn't take any more, so remember that 38 special that we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2:Yes, I do.
Speaker 3:So that gun that was used to kill him was given to Marvin Gaye Sr by Marvin Gaye Jr as a Christmas present.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's super fucked up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there's some theories on that. Later on We'll get to. So now we're going to enter the actual killing.
Speaker 3:In the day prior to his death, gay's parents had arguments mainly over a misplaced insurance policy letter. On the day before his death the arguments spread to Gay's bedroom. Angered by his father's confronting his mother, gay commanded Marvin Sr to leave her alone. Marvin Sr complied with that incident and there was no violence that night, but Marvin Sr continued yelling throughout the house. At approximately 12.30 pm on April 1, 1984, an impatient Marvin Sr shouted at his wife about the document. Gay, dressed in his maroon robe, shouted back downstairs to told his father that if he had something to say he should do it in person. According to albertum, when marvin c refused uh, his son's request, gay warned him not to come to his room. Marvin senior, however, insisted charging upstairs to the bedroom to verbally attack alberta over the documents, causing gay to jump out of his bed and once again order his father out of the room. When ordering did not work, gay, enraged, reportedly shoved his father out of the room into the hallway then began kicking and punching him. Alberta later told Ritz Marvin hit him. I shouted for him to stop but he paid no attention to me. He gave my husband some hard kicks. Gian later recalled that it was understood in the family that if one of the children ever dared to strike their father that he would murder him or her. Saying her father made it very clear and said so publicly on more than one occasion.
Speaker 3:Gay reportedly followed his father to the bedroom and, according to his mother, continued to kick him brutally. Eventually, alberta separated gay from his father and returned him to his bedroom. Minutes later, at 12 38 pm, marvin senior entered his bedroom, returning with the 38 pistol his son had bought him, pointed it at gay and shot him directly in the heart. As alber Alberta later explained to police, I was standing about eight feet away from Marvin when my husband came to the door of the bedroom with his pistol. My husband didn't say anything, he just pointed the gun at Marvin. I screamed, but it was very quick. He my husband shot and Marvin screamed. I tried to run. Marvin slid down to the floor after the first shot. The first shot, which proved to be fatal, entered the right side of gay's chest, perforating his right lung, heart, diaphragm, liver, stomach and left kidney, before coming to rest against his left flank.
Speaker 2:Damn, that bullet did some fucking damage yeah, it did, but I mean bullets like that, even uh I know a lot of people wouldn't compare it, but uh 22, that thing hits you and bounces around yeah, and you gotta remember, this is like almost point range.
Speaker 3:He was like really fucking close up to him when he did this, uh. So then marvin gaye, senior, uh stepped closer after the first shot and shot him a second time at point-blank range shoot. In the 2018 episode of the reels tv series, autopsy the last hours of, forensic pathologist michael hunter expressed his belief that gay was initially shot non-fatally in the left shoulder by his father. Two men were standing two feet apart while facing each other. Hunter believed that the first shot penetrated the left shoulder just below the clavicle and exited his back without causing any serious injury, the impact of which caused Gay to fall down. Hunter also believed that Gay was then shot in the chest, which had a very damaging and odd trajectory, traveling diagonally down through the lung, heart, diaphragm, liver and kidney, finally embedding itself on the left side of the torso. From Hunter's point of view, the direction of the bullet trajectory suggests Marvin was positioned toward his father and his father was likely to have been moving away at the time, afraid of being shot. Next, alberta screamed and ran out of the bedroom, all the while pleading in fear to her husband not to shoot her. According to a report, gay's father hid the gun underneath his pillow out of the bedroom, all the while pleading in fear to her husband not to shoot her. According to report gay father, gay's father hid the gun underneath his pillow.
Speaker 3:In the meantime, gay's brother, frankie, and sister-in-law irene heard the shots as they lived in the guest house on the property. After the first shot, frankie initially thought it sounded like a car backfiring. Afterwards they heard screams from outside, rushed out and saw Alberto who ran into Irene's arm shouting he shot Marvin, he killed my boy. Frankie ran to the house and carefully walked into the hallway to his brother's room, not knowing if Marvin senior was still armed, whether he was still in the room or if his brother was dead. After walking in a gay's bedroom, an emotional Frankie held him as gay bled rapidly. Frankie alleged that Marvin, barely speaking above a whisper, told him I got what I wanted. I couldn't do it myself, so I had him do it. It's good, I ran my race. There's no more left in me.
Speaker 3:After police arrived, irene went to Marvin Sr in his bedroom and asked him where the gun was. After searching over his bedroom, irene located under his pillow. Upon exiting the house, irene dropped the gun on the lawn. Immediately following this, marvin senior, who had now been taken uh taking a seat on the front porch outside the house, was arrested. The police arrived 20 minutes after the shooting. Gay's body was taken to the house and sent to the california hospital medical center. At approximately01 pm Gay was pronounced dead on arrival. As soon as his death was announced, several of Gay's neighbors and onlookers prayed around the house, mainly in stunned shock and silence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this definitely fucked up, but I mean it sounds like it all could have been avoided, but he didn't want it avoided. I mean, like you said, if that is true and that was what he said, then you know he did get what he wanted.
Speaker 3:So it was ongoing that he was like severely depressed and he wanted to die and he kept trying to kill himself but he couldn't. So he always remember that his father told him, like growing up, like if any of them ever like put a hand on him, that he would fucking kill him which uh for a man in ministry that's uh, that should be some red flags yeah, but I mean, at the end of the day, that's what he wanted and he got what he wanted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he also tore his family apart in doing so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but at that point you got to think like he's like that depressed he does. He's not thinking about any of that, he just wants it to end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which unfortunately is how it goes Even in modern times. A lot of people think without acting, and then you know, depending on what you believe as far as afterlife goes.
Speaker 3:Yep, alrighty. So the next part is the autopsy and funeral. An autopsy was conducted on Gay's body shortly after his death. Test results showed that he had elements of cocaine and PCP in his system.
Speaker 2:Jesus. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I saw that and I was like Jesus, dude, he really liked to party, yeah.
Speaker 3:After lawyers misread the coroner's report, judge Ronald George determined later during a preliminary hearing in the court case that PCP can often provoke violence.
Speaker 3:Preliminary hearing in the court case that PCP can often provoke violence. When told that the report had concluded only that gay had just cocaine traces in his system, the judge said PCP was not a major factor in this in his decision. So at first they thought it was the PCP that made him like go off the hinges and like attack his father, yeah. And then it turns out that it was just traces of cocaine in his system. Ah, okay, so then that? And then he said it didn't like make it, it didn't affect his choice and his ruling. Um, during an interview with the police, gay's father contended that he was scared that something would happen to him and that he only meant to shoot in self-defense, stating he did not know that the gun had any bullets in it, claiming he thought there was either blanks or bb's. When asked if he loved his son, marvin c reportedly stated in a soft voice let's say I didn't dislike him.
Speaker 2:Jesus, fucking christ, this guy yeah, sounds like a piece of shit oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Upon being told that his son had died from the shots, marvin Sr reportedly wept after realizing he had killed him. Marvin Sr was held on bond afterwards. Gay siblings believe that his death was a premeditated suicide. John later said that, upon forcing his father's hand in the murder, that he had accomplished three things. He put himself out of his misery, he brought relief to his mother by finally getting her husband out of her life and punished the father by making certain that the rest of his life would be miserable, miserable.
Speaker 2:My brother knew just what he was doing, so they're saying that it was a calculated move yeah, but I mean at the same time he didn't necessarily force anyone's hand like the dad made that choice. Yes, he said it, but I mean I could sit there and threaten something doesn't mean it's actually going to happen. So he didn't have to make that choice.
Speaker 3:He wanted to make that choice oh yeah, and him saying that he thought it was blanks or bb's like no. He gave you this gift on christmas, telling you was to stop intruders. You knew it was loaded. You knew exactly what you were doing. You're just trying to save your own ass now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, blanks or BBs. My ass, I don't know when 38 has ever been for blanks or BBs.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So on April 5th 1984, a star-studded funeral was held for Gay at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, glendale. 1984, a star-studded funeral was held for Gay at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, glendale, attended by over 10,000 mourners, including his Motown colleagues, his two ex-wives, anne Gay and Janice Gay, and his siblings, mother and three children. Smokey Robinson and Dick Gregory delivered eulogies, while Stevie Wonder performed Lighting Up the Candles, which was later included on Wonder's soundtrack to the film Jungle Fever, up the candles, which was later included on wonder's soundtrack to the film jungle fever, and cecil t cecil jenkins sang the lord's prayer. At the open casket funeral, gay was wearing one of his costumes from his final concert tour, a golden white military style uniform with an ermine wrap at his shoulders. The funeral was presided by the chief apostle of gay's family's old church, the house of god.
Speaker 3:Following the funeral, gay was given a burial plot in accordance with his family's request. The body was cremated, with half of his ashes spreading in the pacific ocean, by three children, and and gay and and their adopted son, marvin third then kept a small portion of the ashes for themselves. Gay left behind no will. As a result, his son, marvin III, age 17 at the time, became co-administrator of his estate. At the time of his death, gay was struggling financially and the IRS had asked for $1 million. That's going to equal $2,009,332 and $2,023. Oof.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, uh, so, yeah. So $2.9 million in $20, $23, the back pay, uh, the to pay unpaid taxes of $600,000. So in 2023, that would have been $1.7 million To the state of California and back alimony of $300,000, which would equal $879,000 in 2023. To Ann and Janice Gay, he was $1.9 million, which would equal $5.5 million in debt at the time of his death, but royalties from Gay's work eventually paid off those debts. Damn, imagine having that much back catalog and royalties that they eventually equal off that much money to pay everything off that would be nuts, because, uh, that's a fuck ton of money oh yeah, so we're heading to the next part, which is the court case.
Speaker 3:All right, let's hear it. So marvin senior was held at los angeles county jail on a hundred thousand dollar bail. His accounts of the shooting were printed in the los angeles herald. Examiner quoting his words, I didn't mean to do it. During a checkup at the county usc medical center, a benign tumor was discovered at the base of marvin senior's brains. Doctors removed the tumor on may 17th 1984. On june 12th, after reviewing a two-page report including two psychiatric evaluations conducted by ronald marksman, judge michael pirosh I'm sorry, I think I said that wrong pirosh p-r-o-s-h. Pirosh, pirosh pirosh who knows?
Speaker 3:yeah. The judge ruled that Marvin Sr was competent to stand trial. He appeared in court again on June 20th where he was ordered to return on June 16th for a preliminary hearing. Marvin Sr's estranged wife, alberta, posted the reduced bail of $30,000 via a bondsman to secure the ex-minister's release from jail. Bondsman to secure the ex-minister's release from jail. Two days earlier she had filed for divorce, citing as grounds that she had officially separated from him following their son's fatal shooting on the same day. Looking over documents, the amount of drugs in Gates' system and pictures of Marvin Sr's injuries during his final fight with his son, judge Ronald M George agreed to grant Marvin Sr a plea bargain. As a result, he pled no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge on September 20, 1984.
Speaker 3:On November 2, judge Gordon Ringer sentenced Marvin Gaye to a six-year suspended sentence and five years of probation. During the sentencing hearing, marvin Sr tearfully told the court If I could bring him back, I would. I was afraid of him. I thought he was going to get hurt. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm really sorry, for I would. I was afraid of him. I thought he was going to get hurt. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm really sorry for everything that happened. I love him. I wish we could have stepped through the door right now.
Speaker 2:I'm paying the price now.
Speaker 3:I don't think that's payment enough. Yeah, no, it really isn't. So this last section is the aftermath of the court case and the shooting and all that. Oh, but a quick fact I wanted to bring up. Sorry, I forgot to tell you this. So they're one of Marvin Gaye's friends that they brought up during the funeral that did Eulogy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Smokey Robinson. I saw an interview where he said that at the time he was driving and he heard on the radio stations that Marvin Gaye had been shot and killed, and he's like, no, that's fake, it's April 1st, it's April Fool's Day, it's not real. So he switched to another station and then the same thing.
Speaker 3:So he had pulled over into a gas station and he called marvin gaye's wife, uh, or his ex-wife yeah and he said hey, and as soon as he, before he even asked, she said it's, it's real that actually, it actually happened he said he felt like he got punched in the gut and I was like that's got to suck to hear that your friend died on the radio.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Before you hear from anybody else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was. That's got to be really fucking wild. So here's some of the reactions. So news stations reported on Gay's death almost immediately after it was announced, with one of the most prominent announcements coming from CBS anchor Dan Rather. Eulogies were delivered in American, asian and European countries. The New York Times ran the story in the front page the day after his death. Many of Gay's friends and peers were initially shocked to learn of Gay's death. Some of them did not initially believe the news because April 1st is also April Fool's Day, a date associated with jokes and hoaxes, with the media taking part in such on the day. Only Otis Williams of the Motown group the Temptations recalled receiving the news while touring with the Four Tops in Australia. And so it was a very dark day that I will never forget, as I lost a friend, former Motown staffer. Gian Bradford and her husband were driving home after listening to the radio all day. The announcer announced that was a weird way to say that.
Speaker 2:The announcer announced uh the announcer announced the announcement of announcing.
Speaker 3:Yes, uh, gaze death. Cbs urban president Larkin Arnold was also reportedly stunned with the news as he had tried to get Gay in the studio for his follow-up to Midnight Love. Smokey Robinson heard the news of Gay's death on the radio. Feeling that his innards wouldn't accept the news, he called Gay's ex-wife, anna, to find out whether it was true, and she confirmed it before he could even ask her, leaving Robinson in shock.
Speaker 3:Longtime gay admirer and former nephew-in-law Jermaine Jackson, brother of Michael Jackson, recalled sobbing uncontrollably once he heard the news and called Barry White to confirm the story. According to White, gay had agreed to do a series of duets with him. Barry Gordy's ex-wife, rae Singleton, received the news from Anne on the phone upon the arrival of her son and Gay's adopted son, marvin III, singleton told Gay III to go upstairs and talk to his mother, who then told him the news. Vh1 listed Gay's death as the eighth most shocking moment in rock and roll. Recollecting of the death from admirers and Gays include rapper chuck d and al sharpton, who noted the coincidence of the date when he replied that the death came like a sick, sad joke to all of us. That's kind of fucked up. But yeah, he died on april 1st, like the day before his 45th birthday yeah, it's pretty brutal yeah especially to go down on april 1st, like that's and then everybody just thinks it's a joke
Speaker 3:yeah like oh no, it's not real no, but it is yeah.
Speaker 3:Gordy, who was overcome with emotion and grief over gay's death, took out a full page ad following the funeral's declaration that gay was the greatest of his time, the best recording artist he had ever worked with. New Wave group Duran Duran dedicated their hit ballad Save a Prayer to Gay the following afternoon during a performance in Oakland, california. Their performance was later taped for the Videotape Arena. Immediately after his death, numerous fans of Gay stood outside the house of Gramercy Place, placed memorabilia and other items on the lawn and held vigils there until the next day, gay's birthday. So that's pretty much all of the information I have on Marvin Gaye's death which I think it's super fucked up dude.
Speaker 3:Like just everything about it is like heartbreaking. Like he was like in such pain that he wanted to end it, but then he also calculated like by me dying and him killing me, it's going to solve three issues. Like I don't want to live anymore. It's going to solve that. Like he's abusive to my mom, like that's going to take him out permanently and he's going to suffer the rest of his fucking life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's going to take him out of permanently and he's going to suffer the rest of his fucking life. Yeah, but at the same time, like I said, he doesn't account for and no one ever does the pain that's caused to your family, the ones you do care about, like they're stuck living with that forever, that pain, that sorrow, that hatred, that loss, just everything. So, yes, you may accomplish some things that you believe are good, but in the end, is that really worth the pain and suffering that were caused?
Speaker 3:No, not at all. But also, what kind of made me a little mad is that his mom bailed out his dad. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I would have been like fucking leave him there, that don't fucking run. Then he only got six years on a suspended sentence and then five years probation.
Speaker 3:Like he single. He murdered, like one of like music's greatest fucking creative minds and all he got was fucking six years on a suspended sentence. That's fucking insane, but I do understand. Like the way the pictures looked like it was self-defense. But it wasn't really self-defense, because how the story was told Was that, yes, marvin Gaye attacked his father, but then the fight was broken up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wasn't self-defense.
Speaker 3:He went into his room, grabbed a gun, came back and then fucking shot Marvin Gaye and killed him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would be revenge.
Speaker 3:So I had seen this. There's a weird show it's called final 24, where they go over like the last 24 hours of like celebrities, like lives before they died yeah and on that I was watching it had.
Speaker 3:Uh, there was an episode on marvin gay and they said that the reason that it took people so long to go into the house it's like to find, like to help marvin gay out, was they didn't know where the gun was, cause the dad hit him, nobody wanted to go inside Cause they were scared that they're going to fucking shoot him.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Cause like hey, he just killed Marvin Gaye. What's? That's his son? How is he going to fucking feel about us coming in and trying to help him? So it wasn't until his brother went in and found the gun and and took it out.
Speaker 2:that that's when everybody was like all right, we're clear to go, but if I'm being honest, I don't think it would have even made a difference. No, I mean, even if, like they thought the first shot wasn't fatal and the second shot was in the 20 minutes that it took for response time, it's doubtful that he would have survived. People would have had to start CPR immediately and been working on that kind of shit for him to have even maybe had a chance.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that they pronounced him dead at the hospital. Yeah, but at that point if it hit all that stuff like his lung, heart, his kidneys, his liver, I don't think he's surviving that.
Speaker 2:No, that's a lot of uh internal bleeding yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, that's my fucked up father's day story. What do you got?
Speaker 2:all right. So, uh, mine is about a man named kyle meyer kyle meyer name sounds vaguely familiar well, let's see if this rings a bell.
Speaker 2:So on December 24th of 2023, kyle Meyer, who was age 33, allegedly killed his father, gregory Meyer, in their family home. The murder weapon was an axe and a battery-operated pole saw which were found near Gregory's body in the basement. Saw which were found near Gregory's body in the basement. The attack left Gregory with multiple severe injuries, including wounds to the head, leg, fingers and hands. Now, the discovery of the crime didn't come into light until when Gregory's wife heard disturbing noises from the basement around 1230 pm. She reported hearing a loud argument followed by screams and then silence. Despite her calls, she received no response. A relative witnessed kyle leaving the premises in a pickup truck shortly before the gruesome discovery. Gregory meyer was found unresponsive in the basement when significant trauma. And think about it. So they're saying that happened around like noon the day before fucking Christmas, jesus, yeah.
Speaker 2:So Kyle Meyer was apprehended later that night in Patterson, new Jersey. He was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He was denied bail. The judge had cited the substantial evidence against him, including a trail of blood leading from the basement to Kyle's room, and emphasized the serious nature of the charges. Now here's where the kicker comes in. The Meyer family had publicly addressed Kyle's long-term struggles with mental illness and substance abuse. They described his escalating delusions and paranoia, exacerbated by the drug and alcohol abuse, and then they had tried to seek help for him, tried to get him help, get him to go see reason, but they faced limitations in committing Kyle against his will unless he made explicit threats.
Speaker 2:This tragic incident has prompted the family to advocate for better mental health interventions and to warn others about the potential dangers of untreated mental illness, which is one of the big things we've talked about and always talk about. It's not what people have around them to hurt someone with. It's their mental state of being A perfectly sane person with no mental issues whatsoever is going to be less likely to just go oh hey, yeah, I want to kill this person and do it than someone who is battling some sort of mental illness where you know they're theorizing of right and wrong, what's accepted, what isn't, what's good, what's bad is so changed inside of them. Like look at all the people that you know claim oh, there's demons and there's all these voices in my head and shit. Well, no, that's the mental struggles you're going through. Those voices aren't real and they really have no control over you. It's that weakened mental state that's allowing you to go. Oh yeah, no, that's real. I need to do what this says, or something bad's going to happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's insane, though that's fucking brutal dude.
Speaker 2:An ax and a fucking electric pole saw.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yours was way more brutal than mine was. Let's go with the more gruesome one.
Speaker 2:I was like fuck dude.
Speaker 3:Well, yours was more fucked up, Mine was more fucked up emotionally Yours was more fucked up in the sense of emotionally, yours was more fucked up, like physically and mentally yeah, oh, but that's.
Speaker 2:That's not all. So at the hearing, assistant morris county prosecutor tara wong presented evidence of the violent nature of the crime, reinforcing the decision to keep kyle in jail. The defense argued for his release, contending that no one directly witnessed the crime, but the judge found the circumstantial evidence compelling enough to warrant continued detention. So his attorney was trying to get him out and basically say no, he doesn't deserve to be in here because no one witnessed it no, keep that fucking.
Speaker 2:Well, the one person witnesses, but they're fucking dead now yeah, and it's like you know they have all that evidence like I get a defense attorney is supposed to defend, but I'm sorry, like if you're defending someone who just did that kind of shit, yeah, you're, I'm sorry. I don't believe that should even be a thing. If it's like a, a small theft of like you know, oh, hey, yeah, well, my client just had it in his hand and completely spaced it, because I did that as a kid once at a store I had something. I had a toy in my hand and we ended up walking out. I got in the car, car and I was like wait a minute, shit, I still have this toy. So we went back and turned it back in. Like shit isn't always purposeful, but I'm sorry that was with fucking intent.
Speaker 3:You can't be like oh I'm sorry, like I zoned out and accidentally fucking like cut my father apart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I chopped him up with an axe and a fucking electric pole. Saw that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like worst thing I've done is like walk out without my fucking keys and I'm like, oh, I gotta turn back, or like leave without my wallet. I don't think I've ever been like, oh whoopsie, I fucking killed somebody. Oh, I totally like spaced it yeah my bad. I mean, he was also on drugs, so I'm uh, yeah, yeah drugs, alcohol and mental health and uh, but think about it.
Speaker 2:That was that was only like roughly five months ago, jesus, this was five months ago, yeah, december 24th 2023 so it's still ongoing yeah, no. The case has drawn significant media attention from the local community and media. It has highlighted issues around mental health care and the challenges families face when dealing with severe mental illness yeah, like get this fucking dude help but at the same time keep them locked up yeah, and that's what they were having trouble doing.
Speaker 2:So now the meyer family has expressed their deep sorrow and their intent to use this tragic event to raise awareness about mental health crisis and the importance of accessible treatment, which, I'm sorry to say, we still haven't seen any changes in that. Look at all the shootings and stabbings and all that shit that still happened.
Speaker 3:And Marvin Gaye's dad killing Marvin Gaye.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tragic Right.
Speaker 3:You're like no, you can't tie that into this.
Speaker 3:Yes, I can and I will right yeah, but no, fucking keep his little psycho ass in there. Why the fuck are you trying to get this guy released? No, he fucking murdered his father. Like, yes, like, get him the help he needs. I'm all for like getting him to like the mental help he needs, but there's no reason to fucking release him. Yeah, like I get that. Oh, his life's ruined like this is the rest of it. Yeah, he fucked up and there's mistakes, but there's also consequences for those mistakes. You don't let them walk out free. Exactly shit is it? I saw kermit the frog there. I heard it free.
Speaker 2:But I mean, that's what happens. You charge them with murder, throw away the key. Like I said, I still and a lot of people might not agree, but I said, if you were to bring anyone that does you know some fucked up shit to kids or adults yeah, anything like that should immediately just be taken and put to fucking death publicly and I know that sounds brutal at first, but think about it.
Speaker 2:We put all this shit about murder and this going on and that going on and publicize trials and make these people that do this shit basically famous.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What does that tell you? We're making people go. Oh well, I want quick fame, I want quick notoriety and my life isn't that great, so I'm going to do the same shit. Well, if you were to immediately catch that person, put them to death and televise that or make it a public event, people are going to go. Oh shit, if we do this, this is going to happen to me.
Speaker 3:I think I'll kind of uh, steer clear doing that yeah, because, like a lot of the thing too is with like killers. They get like fucking shows and movies made about them afterwards and then like, oh well, here's my tell-all book like y'all this. That. That's where we're fucking up. We're giving these people exactly what the fuck they want like they want to be famous that's why fucking jeffrey dahmer's little psycho ass got fucking killed in jail.
Speaker 3:Because he wouldn't stop telling people like, oh, like, yeah, this fucking chicken leg looks like them when I was done with them. Yeah, and then that dude, he got sick and tired, told him like hey, cut this shit out. And then he fucking did it. So then he beat him. I think he beat him like a piece of, like a bicycle or some shit or like a weight, I don't know. He fucking killed him. But he said that's why. Cause, like he wouldn't stop doing that shit, like they're not remorseful, they don't give a shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, they, they don't care, they don't. The only time that they try to act like they care is when they're hearing that sentence, but other than that, once they're in, no, they're living it big amongst the people that have done similar shit to them. But again, you take them out right away. Publicize that shit. No one's gonna want to be associated with any of that shit yeah, and a lot, even like school shooters.
Speaker 3:Dude the one that did um shit, was it sandy hook?
Speaker 3:yeah like he had like a whole board like ranking his favorite school shooters like from worst to best, but like kill ratio and all that and that's why he did that. And then the fucking I remember what shooting was uh, stone something, something, cruise. That kid like I think I showed you that video like even now they caught him and he's in jail and he tried attacking a guard and grabbing his taser and the guard just absolutely beat the shit out of that kid I mean, you want to fuck around and play a stupid game, then uh you're gonna win that stupid prize and they keep saying like oh, he's mentally ill, that like, yeah, I get that he's mentally ill, but at the same time he did something really fucking bad.
Speaker 3:Like he went and he killed all these fucking like kids, like for no fucking reason. Like there shouldn't be a fucking. You shouldn't be rewarding them with more fame. Throw them in the fucking hole and stop talking about them and mental illness should stop being a scapegoat.
Speaker 2:The thing we have to ask ourselves is, seriously when is enough enough? Quit going for fucking weapon bans, this, that and the other, because, guess what, in countries that have gun bans there's insanely high knife crimes or other murder fucking weapons. A pencil could be a murder weapon. There's no way to get rid of anything that could potentially harm someone fatally. You can do it with a chair. You can do it with a piece of fucking wood. You can do it with a tire. Everything on this fucking planet can be a weapon. You need to focus on the root cause, which is either getting that mental health fixed or having the person locked up in a mental institution until you can, you know, provide them the help and stuff they need to hopefully get them stabilized and back to a sense of normality yeah, that's the thing, though, because everybody always wants to be like ban the guns.
Speaker 3:This is you think. If you make guns illegal, you think people still aren't going to get their fucking hands on them. That's the whole thing. They're illegal. People are still going to want them. They're still going to get them. They're just going to hide them.
Speaker 2:Now it's still happening now. Criminals are criminals. All you're doing is hurting law-abiding.
Speaker 3:If you, got bad intentions, it's going to happen either way. What you need to do is you got to start making mental health care more accessible to everybody. And we sound like a broken record, but that's the fucking truth of it All these stories that we've go over. They could have easily been avoided if these people were had accessible mental health like clinics and like different resources to help them out.
Speaker 3:This stuff, I feel it could be stopped, oh yeah, if we focus more on that and less on oh, the guns kill people? No, they don't. It's the people wielding them that are mentally ill and the society has failed them to get them help that they need I mean shit.
Speaker 2:When I was, uh, when I lived in china, I think the year before we got there, like the year of getting there there was a mass stabbing incident in a fucking like kindergarten yeah, it's like the shit.
Speaker 2:The people are fucked up. They need help. You could have, you know, you could have a knife band up there. Well, guess what then? They're just okay. Well, I'll stab you with a pencil, I'll stab you with the scissors at school, like if it's something that they're planning. Nothing is going to stop them. They'll find whatever means are necessary to accomplish that goal, the tools to address whatever anger, whatever sadness, whatever. You know things are shadowing and clouding their mind and judgment. Like that's, that's a big thing and this has nothing to do. You know we're not a political podcast or any of that. But if you want to see change and not have to deal with every other fucking day oh, here's this mass shooting. Oh, this many people were stabbed. Oh, this person fucking got drunk and decided to drive into someone and killed four people, like again, all that shit is substance abuse, mental health. Like, give them something to call, not, not. Oh, hey, yeah, call this program or come check this shit out and then give us 500 per fucking visit.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like shit's expensive as hell as it is. No one can afford mental health.
Speaker 3:That's the sad truth here, buddy boy. Well, I think that's where we end this one.
Speaker 2:Happy Father's Day Happy.
Speaker 3:Father's Day everybody. Thank you for stopping by and we'll see you next time in Helheim. Bye, Thank you.