Malcolm, Ozzy and Hulk: Rooting for the Real People

What a child’s voice, a timer, and three unexpected deaths taught me about life, legacy, and Heaven.

Photo by Serkan Yanık on Unsplash

A few weeks ago, my youngest daughter (eight), called out, “Alexa, set the timer for twenty-nine minutes.” She and her two older sisters were huddled around the TV, ready to play Minecraft. They get two thirty-minute increments a day to play, so setting a timer is part of the routine. But why twenty-nine? I pondered for a moment (about as much time as a parent ever gets to think) and then moved on.

I bring up my daughter because I learned that Malcolm Jamal Warner has an eight-year-old daughter as well. They were together in Costa Rica where he tragically drowned on July 20th. He was 54, just a year older than me. In that moment, I could see my daughter crying, upon my death. I thought of all the fun times with my kids and tried to think what he must have thought in that flash when he knew something was wrong and that he was not going to see his family again.

Like many, I first knew Malcolm as Theo, a character from The Cosby Show. In my teens in the 1980s, I watched Theo make wrong decision after wrong decision (as teenagers tend to make) and then root for him to turn things around. I was rooting for Theo.

Two days later, Ozzy Osbourne died. I avoided him in the 1980s because of his connection to Satanism. Was he satanic? Or promoting Satanism? Or did the satanic like him? It didn’t matter, there were horns, those wide scary eyes and screaming from his persona as the Prince of Darkness. I stayed clear.

Then Ozzy emerged in the early two-thousands on a reality show called, The Osbournes. The show followed him, his wife, daughter and son in the daily grind of their life. Ozzy was a baffled father (I could somewhat relate) trying to keep his wife happy with the kids creating all kinds of situations. It wasn’t about his music and Satan made no appearance. It was funny. I was rooting for him.

Two days after Ozzy’s death, Hulk Hogan died. The Hulk was most consistent in my life since he emerged in the 1980s. Not because I watched wrestling (I did not), but because the Hulk found a way to stay relevant. His brand lived on until the very end.

Hulk Hogan had “Hulksters” and long after he was done with jumping around in the ring, he still stared at the camera, spoke with intensity and tore off his shirt. That pretty much sums up my knowledge of Hulk Hogan. And it was enough for me to root for him for forty years.

Even when watching someone on television for years, you think you know them, but you really don’t. Whatever information reaches you, was placed there for a variety of reasons. Maybe it was their PR team for “exposure.” Maybe someone doesn’t like them, so it was leaked to the press. Maybe a writer doesn’t like them, so they cover a story a certain way (or even just make one up).

After their deaths, I learned about Malcolm, John (Ozzy’s real name) and Terry.

Malcolm was a prolific musician, poet and continued acting (he just started a new network TV series). He spoke publicly about a lot things and issues. I frankly don’t know any of them and it doesn’t matter. I can see the person that Malcolm has become. I see the father and husband he became and appreciate the manner and style that he was trying to make the world better.

Just a couple months before his death, this hour-long interview with Malcolm was released. He talked about death and the legacy he wants to leave behind for his daughter.

Malcolm shared that, at age 15, he watched his grandfather take his last breath. He said, “when we grieve from people who pass on, we grieve for ourselves because we miss them. When I think about people who have gone on and transitioned. They may be going on to a better place because I look at this world…maybe they are rewarded.”

In the interview, Malcolm talked about leaving a legacy. “At 54, I think about that [legacy] a lot. There is part of me that I will be able to leave this earth…knowing and people knowing that I was a good person.”

I was surprised to learn that John Michael Osbourne (Ozzy) was a Christian. His persona was not to promote Satan but rather to warn us of the dangers of the darkness in the world. (His fans did not seem to understand that nuance. Ozzy didn’t mind.) This article from Caroline Foreman allows you to learn about the true Ozzy Osbourne. He was always a Christian. Even though he didn’t go to church, he believed in God.

I also learned from this article that Terry Gene Bollea (Hulk) was a Christian. He had been baptized at age 14 and then again in December 2023. He too was always a Christian but wanted to go all in again.

“[Christ] has given me the opportunity to prove that I’m faithful, and I’ll never make those same mistakes again. Going back to my faith, the momentum was overwhelming. There was nothing stopping me.”

— Hulk Hogan

Though he did not discuss religion publicly, Malcolm believed each of us has a soul. In the interview, he said, “It is possible to walk through this world, and with all of the darkness in the world, it is possible to maintain your soul and be a good person.”

I root for characters in shows. I root for the personas of artists and entertainers. But none of us know the real person behind them. The breadcrumbs floating around the digital world does not represent them. We live in a world of snapshots—sound bites, reels, and headlines. But behind each public figure is a soul navigating life, just like us.

Just like I root for characters in a show, I need to root for the person behind them and for anyone else I come across. Each of us can make our own little world better, by rooting for one another, even a stranger that annoys us. It’s not personas, formed by society or our misconceptions, that go to Heaven. I need to root for real people to follow God’s path home.

“It is possible to walk through this world, and with all of the darkness in the world, it is possible to maintain your soul and be a good person.”

—Malcolm-Jamal Warner

It’s nice to meet more of you Malcolm, John and Terry. May your true legacy live on. I pray that you are now rewarded in glorious Heaven.

Peace.

P.S. My daughter sets the timer for 29 minutes because Alexa cannot understand her when she says “thirty” and incorrectly puts 40 minutes on the timer. So, my daughter shaves off one minute!