Robin Williams MTV ‘tribute’ described as ‘offensive’

The MTV VMAs paid homage to late actor and comedian Robin Williams in a short video tribute last night, however viewers deemed it ‘offensive’ due to the lack of effort made for the segment. Elsewhere Billy Crystal made an emotional speech about his late friend at the Emmy Awards.

The Metro newspaper reports this morning that the 20 second long feature had ‘backfired’ after MTV viewers took to social media to lambast the music and reality broadcaster for lack of effort in the ‘tribute’ to the performer who died aged 63 two weeks ago.

The brief homage to Williams, who found mainstream television success in the 1970s thanks to appearances on 1950s-set sitcom Happy Days, comprised of six photographs and a short clip from his 1993 comedy movie Mrs Doubtfire.

“It would have been less insulting to do nothing” said one viewer on Twitter while others described it as ‘awkward’ and ‘disrespectful’.

Over at the Emmy Awards it was a much more emotional affair as fellow actor Billy Crystal paid tribute to Williams with a heartfelt speech about his late mate.

“He made us laugh hard, every time you saw him. His brilliance was astounding… I used to think if I could just put a saddle on him and stay on for eight seconds I would be okay. As genius as he was on stage, he was the greatest friend you could imagine… It’s very hard to talk about him in the past, he was so present in all our lives… for forty years, he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy.”

Robin Williams was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California at noon on Monday the 11th of August, in what was described as an apparent suicide. Following a post-mortem examination, Assistant Deputy Chief Coroner Keith Boyd stated that the cause of death was asphyxiation by hanging, and confirmed reports that Williams, 63, had been suffering from severe depression. However, a final ruling will only be made once the results of toxicology tests come in which could take up to several weeks.

Williams is best known for starring in movies such as Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989), Mrs Doubtfire (1993) and Good Will Hunting (1997) for which he won an Oscar,  as well as featuring in all four series of ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy – a spin-off from Happy Days where he first made his major television appearances around the world with the series shown in numerous countries including on ITV in the UK.