2gether's Michael 'Q.T.' Cuccione Dies.

January 16, 2001 4:58 PM

2gether's Michael 'Q.T.' Cuccione Dies. And the world mourns yet another musical superstar.
posted by littleyellowdifferent (12 comments total)

I know that sarcasm is the easiest response to every situation, but have a little deceny, will you? He was 16 years old, and had been undergoing cancer treatment for more than 5 years. Musical genius? Probably not - that doesn't make it okay to joke about his death.
posted by kristin at 5:05 PM on January 16, 2001

fo real. pretty remarkable young person by the looks of it.
posted by ritualdevice at 5:11 PM on January 16, 2001

And besides, 2gether wasn't even a real band. They were a spoof of the boy band phenomenon in an MTV show.
posted by waxpancake at 5:32 PM on January 16, 2001

In the premiere episode of 2gether (the made-for-tv-movie), Q.T. was not only chosen for the "cute one" because of his looks, but because the character had a life-threatening illness. I had no idea that was actually the case in real life, as well.
posted by pnevares at 6:00 PM on January 16, 2001

Wait a minute... I worked on a video for 2Gether, and he was playing "the sick one" and now he actually died? I thought the joke about him dying was for the character....? This is too meta, I can't follow it.... mind overflowing... must get sleep....
posted by anildash at 8:53 PM on January 16, 2001

So, how tacky do we think MTV *is*...?

isn't it interesting that the only news coverage of this, so far... is on MTV's website?

Anyone got a story from the "real" press?
posted by baylink at 10:01 AM on January 17, 2001

Here is the story from CNN. Not sure if they count as "real" press though...
posted by buddha9090 at 11:46 AM on January 17, 2001

Inasmuch as their story is almost completely a rip-and-write of the MTV story, and isn't independently sourced, no, in this context they don't count.

But thanks. :-)

Any independent reportage, folks?
posted by baylink at 7:20 PM on January 17, 2001

The death is also mentioned about half way down today's Entertainment Weekly news summary. It's not the rehash of MTV's story that the CNN piece was, but it's obvious the facts came from the same source.

I'm not sure that's a sign of anything but the way the media works, though.

Assuming the story is true (and I'm inclined to think it is), is any media outlet going to spend further time and resources tracking the death of a minor celebrity? The MTV release contains everything they need to write a couple of paragraphs, including details of the death, sound bites from the uncle, and a history of the illness. Unless there's suggestions that there's more to the story, most places are going to stop there.
posted by Georgina at 9:01 PM on January 17, 2001

Here's a real news article for you guys.

Boy band star is probably one of the lesser accomplishments of this young mans life.

After successfully beating cancer twice, Michael dedicated himself to raising money for cancer research. He raised $250,000, which was matched by the local childrens hospital.

He wrote a CD and penned a book with his grandmother.

He met the premier, the prime minister, and was blessed by the Pope himself.

He appeared on talk shows and made guest appearances on TV shows.

All in the name of cancer research.

He led a very full life. He will be missed.
posted by futureproof at 2:26 AM on January 18, 2001

The story was also on the front page of the Life section of yesterday's McPaper (USA Today) with a photo. I think this can get filed in with the death of Kid Rock's sidekick Joe C. as someone with a longterm illness who died too young after acheiving some public exposure, but will ultimately not have much staying power remembrance-wise. Condolences to his friends and family in any case, though.
posted by Dreama at 6:13 AM on January 18, 2001

I guess some see raising half a million dollars towards cancer research not much staying power.

I do.
posted by futureproof at 1:22 AM on January 19, 2001