Jeff Goldblum talks about Richard Wilkins’ infamous TV gaffe in GQ
BACK in 2009, Today show presenter Richard Wilkins mistakenly announced on air that Jeff Goldblum had died. Now the actor has spoken about the incident.
Magazines
Don't miss out on the headlines from Magazines. Followed categories will be added to My News.
JEFF Goldblum insists there’s no hard feelings between him and Richard Wilkins after the veteran entertainment reporter’s infamous 2009 gaffe.
On the morning of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett’s death, Wilkins mistakenly announced live on air that Goldblum had also died.
“In front of me is a report saying that New Zealand police are saying that Jeff Goldblum fell from a cliff to his death while filming in New Zealand,” the presenter said on Channel Nine’s Today show.
Wilkins later corrected himself on air and assured viewers that the actor was still alive.
“I saw him and discussed the whole thing,” Goldblum says about the incident in the GQ Men of the Year issue, on sale now.
“He apologised and I said there’s no need, that it could happen to anybody. He gave me a copy of his book and inscribed it beautifully. It’s one of my cherished objects. If there was fire in this house, I would run in and get that first, maybe the family the second.”
The Jurassic Park star said despite mistakenly being killed off in New Zealand, he’s still never visited the country.
“I’d like to go to New Zealand,” he told GQ. “But I wouldn’t like to fall off a cliff there.”
Not long after Wilkins’ on-air gaffe, Goldblum made light of the situation on The Colbert Report where he delivered his own eulogy.
“He was not only a friend and a mentor — but he was also me,” Goldblum joked on the US TV show.
“Jeff Goldblum’s performances combined the muscularity of Brando, the pathos of Streep, and the musky sensuality of a pride of baboons.
“One former conquest raved that sleeping with Jeff Goldblum was like ‘being caught in a flesh-storm, with a 90 per cent chance of satisfaction’. I cannot overstate how amazing Jeff Goldblum was in bed.”
As for Wilkins, he told Mumbrella in 2011 that he accepts full responsibility for the stuff-up even though it was a fellow Today presenter who passed on the info about Goldblum’s supposed death.
“Cam [Cameron Williams], who was working as our sports guy at the time, handed me a piece of paper,” Wilkins explained.
“I don’t suggest for a moment he was trying to set me up, he was trying to keep me in the loop.
“We looked at it ... there had been lots more other stuff online about Goldblum’s death] ... and you want to be first but more importantly you should want to get it right.”
The Channel Nine star described the mistake as “mildly embarrassing”.
Goldblum, 65, was named an International Icon at last night’s 11th annual GQ Men of the Year Awards presented by Audi.
The special GQ Men of the Year issue is on sale now featuring interviews and shoots with all 19 award winners for 2017
Originally published as Jeff Goldblum talks about Richard Wilkins’ infamous TV gaffe in GQ