Several tributes and archival footage of veteran television host Larry King have flooded social media since the news of the 87-year-old’s death broke Saturday. Past interviews of the iconic broadcaster openly speaking about his after-death wishes have particularly caught the attention of fans.
King died Saturday morning after being hospitalized for several weeks with COVID-19, according to his company Ora Media. The beloved television host had interviewed tens of thousands of notable dignitaries, stars and politicians while hosting the CNN show “Larry King Live” from 1985 to 2010.
CNN issued a statement about King and the 25 years he served as one of the notable personalities on the news channel, doling out adoration for his “generosity of spirit that drew the world to him. We are so proud of the 25 years he spent with CNN... From our CNN family to Larry’s, we send our thoughts and prayers, and a promise to carry on his curiosity for the world in our work.”
King, a Brooklyn native who honed his journalism skills in Miami, was noted for his calm and caring interview style. When the noted interviewer became the interviewee, he exhibited similar poise and honesty. One subject he did not shy away from was his thoughts on death and the afterlife. He admitted in many interviews that he was somewhat fixated on death, spending countless hours reading obituaries.
In a handful of interviews, including one with Los Angeles television station KTLA, he spoke about no longer fearing death. In the 2020 interview with Frank Buckley, he discussed how he would want his body preserved. The interview was filmed months after King had suffered a stroke.
“I also looked into the idea of being frozen because then, I’d wake up in 100 years and they cured whatever I died of, and I’m alive again.
“Someone said to me, ‘But, you won’t know anybody?’ and I said, ‘I’ll make new friends,’” King joked. “I’m not afraid of it now because it’s the one thing all of us are going to face. And when you face all these illnesses and you can come through and buy some time — I’m 86. What’s the average age of the American male? 76? 77? I beat it by 10 years.”
The topic also came up when he appeared on “The Dr. Oz Show” in March 2015, when he said he thought about the concept of “living forever.” He later that year talked about the plans on the syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club.”
“It makes a lot of sense to me,” King said in the interview. “I don’t believe that I’m going anywhere...I believe that when you die, you die...I want one little chance. So if I’m frozen and then they find a cure for whatever I died of and they can cure me, is that better than laying in the ground or being burnt while you’re dead?”
In the interview with the New York radio show, he also talked about how he wanted to be remembered once he died.
“I think I want to be remembered as someone who informed, that I made the world a little better by learning a lot of things about a lot of people,” King told host Charlamagne Tha God. “I’d like to say that I entertained people and that I informed.”
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