The hits keep coming as 2021 enters into the second month and yet another celebrity has been counted among the fallen. There’s no disrespect meant when speaking about Dustin Diamond, as everything that’s been said about the guy has been said for a purpose and anything negative has already been stated. If there’s anything left to say or to reiterate, it’s that after his time as Screech on Saved by the Bell, the world nearly forgot about him, much as it did the others that were so prominent on the show. The difference unfortunately is that while his costars would go on to moderate success here and there, controversy tended to plague Dustin quite often due to decisions he’d made or developments that had been put into motion and finally came to a head now and then. He did try to keep his fame going as he continued as a touring comedian and showed up on various projects and on a few reality shows as he attempted to keep his reputation up. The downside of this was that with every misstep that was made he had what felt like a ready-made excuse to offer to the people that could have been reasonable and even true, but was still difficult to fully trust at all times. Sadly, Dustin passed away after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer only weeks ago, and while there is much to say about him, one thing that needs to be said is that for all the talk that circulates the man, no one wanted this.
Disliking someone, feeling that they’re not worthy of your time, and thinking that they have made their own choices in life is one thing, but wishing another person dead is a dangerous step to take since it cannot be taken back so easily. One can assume that no one in their right mind wanted Diamond dead, nor would they wish this type of cancer upon him or anyone, but the sad part of life is that we don’t always get to choose what happens to us, no matter how we live our lives and no matter how we attempt to shape things. Dustin did what he could to keep his fame and reputation moving forward after his time on Saved by the Bell. He took on B-movie roles, stuck with Saved by the Bell until it was canceled, and then attempted to do whatever he could in order to keep his career moving in a forward direction, but it felt as though controversy followed him wherever he went. Some would say that he courted it, that he didn’t shy from it, and that he even manufactured it at times, and it’s hard to dispute since watching him on a couple of reality shows makes it appear as though he did indeed find a reason to make things worse for himself. Right now the best thing that anyone can say is that he was trying, he was continuously pushing forward in order to make his life a little better. Whether he was doing that or not is a matter of perspective since to his fans he was likely still doing just fine. To those that didn’t follow him, it’s possible that they might shrug their shoulders and move on.
Kindness with Diamond was hard to come by no matter that his Saved by the Bell costars had expressed a desire to bury the hatchet and were talking to him still. The tell-all book that was published and then disavowed by him when he stated that it was written by a ghostwriter is another bit of controversy that is hard to find any truth in, as is the sex tape that he spoke of a while ago. Many people wanted to like Dustin, and many people continued to like him for years, as there were plenty of people hoping that he would join the SBTB reboot in the second season if he was capable of doing so. For better or worse it would have meant that the whole group was back together again, and it could have been interesting to see what might have happened. There have been quite a few stories about what his life was like as a young man on the show and how things started to eventually turn into the controversial tale that would eventually come. But no one wanted to see this happen to Diamond, since learning that he had cancer and that he was diagnosed only a short while ago was enough for many people, but this sudden end is bound to be rough for a lot of those that knew him to get over.
He’ll go down in history as one of the most well-known sidekicks in a sitcom without a doubt, but it has to be said that this felt way too soon for Diamond to take that final bow. Rest in peace Dustin, you’ll be missed.
