Wolfgang Van Halen Condemns Creators of Documentary About Father’s Death
This week, Wolfgang Van Halen strongly spoke out against the creators and potential viewers of an upcoming episode of the Reelz documentary series Autopsy: The Last Hours of… that focuses on the death of his father, Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
Eddie died in 2020 at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer. On the show's website, Reelz says Autopsy "reveals the truth behind the controversial deaths of global icons and people whose untimely deaths were surrounded by scandal and intense media attention."
However, while sorrowful, nothing about Eddie's death is controversial, nor was it scandalous.
Perhaps that's why his son, a former Van Halen member who now leads his own band, Mammoth WVH, had such strong words for the program.
"Fuck @ReelzChannel, fuck everyone that works on this show, and fuck you if you watch it," Wolfgang tweeted on Wednesday (June 1), the musician sharing a separate tweet to a news article about the show that seemingly alerted him to the broadcast.
The Mammoth WVH bandleader continued, "Fucking disgusting trying to glamorize someone's death from cancer. Pathetic and heartless."
Rock radio personality and Sirius XM host Eddie Trunk added to the outcry, reposting Wolf's tweet and suggesting he was contacted to contribute to the Autopsy episode.
"I am very glad I passed on having anything to do with this show," Trunk said. "I told the production company I thought it was an awful idea. Clearly they didn't listen unfortunately."
In 2006, Wolf, now 31, replaced bassist Michael Anthony in Van Halen. He then performed alongside his dad in the hard rock act until Eddie's death. Subsequently, Van Halen quietly disbanded. Last year, Wolf released his debut album with the alt-rock Mammoth, the self-titled Mammoth WVH. The 14-song effort contains a musical tribute to his father, the touching ballad "Distance," along with several other singles.
Autopsy: The Last Hours of Eddie Van Halen is scheduled to premiere on Reelz, a digital cable and satellite TV network in the U.S., this Sunday (June 5) at 8PM ET/5PM PT. A sneak peek video is available below.