Facebook group slammed for sick ‘death pool’ list that predicts and celebrates the death of celebrities

A Facebook group with over 60,000 members has been slammed for creating a sick “death pool” list which celebrates celebrities dying.  Scammers, Timewasters, Rants, Advice and Banter (STRAB) shares the names of celebrities it expects to die each year and then "crosses out" the names of those who eventually die that year as predicted.  Members of the group see it as a game where they predict people they expect to die that year and refer to those on the "death pool" list as "contestants". In the comments section of the group, members can be seen predicting "contestants" Katie Price and Ghislaine Maxwell will take their own lives. Sean Connery, Vera Lynn and Kirk Douglas - all celebrities who died after they were named in the death list for 2020 - each had red crosses by their names after their death happened as predicted. Remaining on the 85-name-long list were the names of Meghan Markle, David Attenborough, Johnny Depp, Ant McPartlin and Elton John. Facebook has condemned the group while suicide prevention foundation If You Care Share Foundation has branded the list “deeply worrying”. However admin and creator Liz Hodgson (pictured above) has defended the page, claiming "we're aware it's morbid" but "it's not a competition and there are no winners". Her comments came after she described 2018 as a "banging" year for the game compared to a "rubbish" 2019 where nobody on their list died.  Hodgson, a mum-of-four, posted 2020's "game" on January 3 last year, and members were quick to declare who they thought wouldn't live to see the end of the year. When a person dies as predicted, members are seen celebrating the "glory" in the comments and when people on the list aren't dying, they can be seen wishing for "glory" in the comments. One member wrote in the comments after The Queen didn't die as she predicted: "I've had Mrs Queen for three years now. I swear she's clinging on to stop my glory."  Another added: "I'll have a tenner on Prince Phillip."  A third commented: "Katie Price. She gets such a hard time I wouldn't be surprised." Commenting on the page, a spokesperson for If You Care Share, said: “This page is deeply worrying and in incredibly bad taste."  They added: "This is trivialising mental health issues and suicide that needlessly takes many lives across our country every year. "Pages like this are a step back and show the very worst side of social media, we must work together to push a positive approach which raises awareness of the life saving support available.” However the creator of the Facebook page, Liz Hodgson said: "The chances of anybody named on the list seeing it, unless it was published in a national newspaper, are slim to none. "We're aware it's morbid, we're also aware it's a popular game across the globe. We aren't the first, nor will we be the last to have a deathpool." A Facebook spokesperson said: “We do not tolerate trolling, bullying or harassment on Facebook and we have removed the group for violating these policies. "We invest billions of dollars each year to keep our platforms safe and we proactively remove millions of posts. "We also provide ways for people to report this behaviour to us when they see it, so we can take action."The post Facebook group slammed for sick death pool list that predicts and celebrates the death of celebrities appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.

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