Quotes / Speak Ill of the Dead

Anime and Manga

Matsuda: What was it all for then? What about your dad? What the hell did he die for?!
Light: My dad? You mean Soichiro Yagami? That's right, Matsuda! In this world, all those earnest people like him who fight for justice... they always lose! You want a world where people like that are made to be fools?! I know you understand, so kill the others! SHOOT THEM!
Matsuda: [crying] You led your own father to his death... And now he's gone, you call him a fool?!

— Death Note

Fan Works

Goh: And don’t try to spin this [your actions on Tokio] towards Grace. She’s gone.
Kisaragi: ...Gone? What are you-
Goh: She’s dead. Stabbed in the stomach, choked on her blood, all alone, crying out apology after apology, wanting to be noticed. Does that make you feel better?
Kisaragi: (chuckles as he grasps Goh's chin) Very.

— Infinity Train: Voyage of Wisteria

Film

"This car is an embarrassment. You should have your dad get you a better one."

— Tina, Bumblebee

Thor: Loki's dead.
Erik Selvig: Oh, thank God!
[Thor looks at him, appalled]
Erik Selvig: I mean... I'm so sorry for your loss.

— Thor: The Dark World

"You are a vicious bastard, Rotelli. I'm glad you're dead."

— The Joker, Batman (1989)

Topper Harley: He really was a wiener.
Ramada: Don't get me started.

— Hot Shots! Part Deux on Ramada's husband.

Literature

"Well! I guess that's one problem solved!" [Everyone stares at her] "What? Don't tell me you weren't all thinking it."

— Palona on the murder of Highprince Sadeas, Oathbringer, The Stormlight Archive

Live-Action TV

"Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe? Let me. Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just...think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I'll find room for you next to her and Annabelle."

— Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Dr. Phinneas Pogo: In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master... and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-
Diego Hargreeves: He was a monster. He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him.

— The Umbrella Academy (2019), "We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals"

Glenn: So, unfortunately, the body we found was one of our employees. Salvatore Kazlauskas.
Mateo: Wait, you mean Creepy Sal?
Glenn: The man is dead! But yeah.
Cheyenne: Phew.
Dina: Police said he's been dead for at least a year.
Amy: Are you crying?
Kelly: Yeah, I just...poor guy.
Amy: But you didn't know him.
Kelly: But he was a human being!
Jonah: Ehh. Sal was a bit of a...how do I put it?
Cheyenne: When he looked at you, it felt like he was grabbing you.

— Superstore, "Sal's Dead"

"He really was a cunt, wasn't he?"

— Olenna Tyrell to the father of the deceased, Game of Thrones, "The Queen's Justice"

"You know that saying "it's always the best ones who die"? Well, not today."

— El Gran Wyoming commenting on Silvio Berlusconi's death, El Intermedio

"Today is not a sad day. It's a celebration, because, after all, Trevor was a prick."

— Kerry Godliman, Mock the Week, "Unlikely things to hear at a wedding or funeral"

Carmela: I'm sitting here thinking I should protect my children from the truth about their grandmother, on the one hand. On the other, I'm saying to myself, "what kind of example am I setting?". Evading and smiling, passing out cheese puffs, over a woman we all know was terribly dysfunctional! Who spread no cheer, at all!
Mary: Carmela, be quiet.
Carmela: This is my house!
Mary: I'm leaving.
Hugh: Let her talk, goddamnit.
Mary: Get down, Hugh!
Hugh: No, I'll speak if I want, goddamnit! Who are you?! Minister of Propaganda?! We suffered for years under the yoke of that woman! YEARS! She estranged us from our own daughter, ruined I don't known how many goddamn Christmases, I don't want to even begin to count.

—The Sopranos, "Proshai, Livushka"

Magazines

On the Internet today you will find thousands, perhaps even millions, of people gloating about the death of elephantine Fox News founder Roger Ailes. The happy face emojis are getting a workout on Twitter, which is also bursting with biting one-liners. When I mentioned to one of my relatives that I was writing about the death of Ailes, the response was, "Say that you hope he's reborn as a woman in Saudi Arabia."

— "Roger Ailes Was One Of The Worst Americans Ever" by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

[Bill] Maher also seems to take particular enjoyment in not just insulting comic book fans, but in insulting their emotions and their grief in the aftermath of Stan Lee's death. He pretends he's not saying anything bad about Stan Lee himself, but that's a cowardly, dishonest denial. In claiming the material fans love is not real art, is silly and childish, and that it has no real value for mature readers, he is denigrating Lee's life's work. He is mocking the entire concept behind Lee's entire purpose in creating a new approach to superhero storytelling in the 1960s to appeal to young adults and parents as well as kids.
When, within days of Stan Lee's death, someone insults not only the fans who are praising and grieving the artist, but also the art itself, then they can spare us the transparently craven claim that they meant no ill will or harm to Stan Lee's or his legacy. When you insult his life's work, you insult his legacy. And when you insult his legacy, you insult his life.

— "What Bill Maher Doesn't Understand about Stan Lee or Comic Books" by film critic Mark Hughes, Forbes

Music

You've claimed all this time that you would die for me
Why, then, are you so surprised when you hear your own eulogy?
"He had a lot to say, he had a lot of nothing to say"
"He had a lot to say, he had a lot of nothing to say"
Come down, get off your fucking cross
We need the fucking space to nail the next fool martyr!

— tool, "Eulogy"

Ha ha, you're dead! The joke is over!
You were an asshole, and now you're gone!
While your ship is going down, I'll stand by and watch you drown.
Ha ha, you're dead! Ha ha, you're dead! Ha ha, you're dead!

—Green Day, "Ha Ha You're Dead"

When someone dies, thou shalt no longer be of obligation to cry and say "He'll be missed!" knowing good and well that he was an asshole

— 'Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobious Pip, Thou Shalt Always Kill (De La Edit)

Radio

"I wanna say, and I mean this. I hate Tim Treadwell, and I'm glad he's dead. I'm glad he's fucking dead."

— Jim Norton, reviewing the documentary Grizzly Man on the Opie & Anthony show.

Theatre

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar

— Anthony leading up to a subversion, Julius Caesar

Video Games

"Miklan hated me from the moment he found out I had a Crest and he didn't. He was selfish and egotistical. I know it's not right to say bad things about the dead, but he earned it."

— Sylvain, Fire Emblem: Three Houses

"While I'm at it, that whole idea that we must speak well of the dead? I don't understand that either. If I didn't like them when they were alive, then why pretend to do so when they are no longer here?"

— Linhardt, Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Web Video

"Rya was a lot of things, to many people. Actually, she was just one thing to everyone: a huge jackwad. We will miss her almost as much as My Sweet Sixteen on MTV, and Soundgarden. And now, let's go bowling."

— Joel, Bonus Stage

Rarity: Oh I don't know, what is there to say, really, I mean we all totally saw this coming! Not exactly this way, maybe, we probably predicted black powder or something, but I totally called it on suicide.
Twilight Sparkle: So, diabetic ketoacidosis. What is this, the dark ages? We have medicine!
Applejack: Do I have to talk? Can we just have another moment of silence to quietly contemplate whatever it was that Pinkie was trying to accomplish? I mean, I want to respect the dead and all, it's just that I feel like maybe she killed herself out of spite and I don't know how to feel.
Fluttershy: [is initially drowned out by dubstep music] ...I don't know why I bother.
Mr. Waddle: Thank you very much for complying with the last will and testament of the deceased.
Rainbow Dash: The pony who should have noticed was me! Rainbow Dash!

— Rainbow Dash Presents Bittersweet

Mike: [Larry "Tree" Lonik] is like this boring guy, and I guess... I looked him up online. Thank God he's dead.
Jack: [Cracks up] No, no! That's not something you say about someone!
Mike: Well, it's just... I don't care. I don't want this man around. The man made this video and I had to watch it.
Jay: Okay, I think that's justified. Sure.

— Best of the Worst

Western Animation

"Canmore, your father was an evil man who deserved his fate."

— Macbeth, Gargoyles

"Burn on that old crew! The only things they did better than us were suck and die!"

— Leela, Futurama, "The Sting"

Percy: You son of a BITCH!
Professor Anders: We're all sons of bitches, De Rolo! You in particular, from that bitch who bore you!

— The Legend of Vox Machina, "A Silver Tongue"

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