Stefán Karl Stefánsson's Death

Overview

Stefán Karl Stefánsson's Death refers to the death of actor Stefán Karl Stefánsson, best known for his portrayal of the villain Robbie Rotten in the children's television series LazyTown. Following a two-year battle with bile duct cancer, Stefánsson was pronounced dead in late August 2018 at the age of 43.

Background

Cancer Diagnosis

In September 2016, Stefánsson was hospitalized to remove a possibly malignant tumor. The following month, the actor revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer. In May 2017, metastases were discovered in Stefánsson's liver. In late June, it was revealed that Stefánsson had been diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer. In August, Stefánsson claimed he was "free from the disease, the cancer" in an interview with the Icelandic news site Ruv. In March 2018, Stefánsson was diagnosed with new metastases that could not be surgically removed. On March 10th, Stefánsson posted his final tweet, in which he expressed how "time is the most valuable thing in life" (shown below).^[2]

Death

On August 21st, 2018, TMZ^[1] reported that a spokesperson for Stefánsson's family announced that he passed away earlier that day due to complications from cancer. He is survived by his wife and four children. An academy named in his honor, the Stefán Karl Academy & Center for the Performing Arts, will be opened in Switzerland in 2019 as a memorial to his career, as announced by his manager.^[7]

Developments

Online Reaction

That day, /r/dankmemes^[3] moderator sloth stickied a post on the subreddit announcing that "the next 24 hours will be dedicated to memes about Stefán Karl Stefánsson" and that any other memes "will be removed." Within 24 hours, the post gained upwards of 24,100 points (95% upvoted) and 1,500 comments. Over the next day, the subreddit was filled with images created in Stefánsson's memory (shown below).

Also on August 21st, a Change.org^[4] petition calling for a statue of Stefánsson to be placed in his hometown of Hafnarfjörður, Iceland was created, gathering upwards of 141,360 signatures in 24 hours (shown below, left). On August 22nd, actress Julianna Rose Mauriello, who played the character Stephanie alongside Stefánsson in LazyTown, posted a tweet in Stefánsson's memory along with a photograph of the two on set (shown below, right).^[5]

Meanwhile, an article titled "RIP Robbie Rotten: Memers Mourn The Untimely Death Of Stefán Karl Stefánsson" was published on the Cheezburger site Memebase,^[6] highlighting online reactions to Stefánsson's death.

Search Interest

External References