When news broke late Tuesday night that legendary Beatles producer George Martin had passed away, the collective hive mind of Twitter quickly rallied around a single thought: George Martin, Beatles producer, has almost exactly the same name as George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones novel series A Song of Ice and Fire! There are jokes to be made here, folks!
Beatles producer George Martin died. Game of Thrones fans reacted exactly how you’d expect.
Yes, everyone already made that joke.
Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.
I thought George RR Martin just died.... Just some other George Martin
— Spiral Horn (@SpiralHorn) March 9, 2016
........
— hi.im.shan (@hi_im_shan) March 9, 2016
People know that George Martin and George RR Martin are not the same person, right?
Please tell me they know.
Just saw that the musician George Martin had died. Thought it was George RR Martin at first and thought, OMG HE WILL NEVER FINISH THE BOOKS.
— Leta Blake (@LetaBlake) March 9, 2016
(whispers) George *RR* Martin is still gonna die before he finishes those goddam books tho
— Caitlin Kelly (@caitlin__kelly) March 9, 2016
Now that George RR Martin has passed we'll never get a sixth Beatles novel.
— simon (@stillwellgray) March 9, 2016
sorry, i'm not really paying attention.
To be fair, some people appeared to be genuinely confused, with at least one news outlet reporting the Beatles producer’s death alongside an image of the still-very-alive author.
LOL, @kolo8 just killed George RR Martin. pic.twitter.com/LuyXRGPpev
— John Davidson (@JD24) March 9, 2016
The possibility that George R.R. Martin might die before he finishes writing the book series (he’s currently stuck on book six out of a planned seven) is one that has terrified fans for years, to the point that Martin now makes a point of reassuring them in interviews. “[Game of Thrones showrunners] David Benioff and Dan Weiss know some of [the ending],” he told EW, “which the fans are very worried about in case I get hit by a truck.”
As of this writing, George R.R. Martin is fine. He told us so himself.
Update: George R.R. Martin declares rumors of his death to be greatly exaggerated.
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