Cremation Songs & Toxic Tweets | 4M #173

Welcome to the hundred-and-seventy-third edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #173, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!

Fuming feud

A five-year feud between two Drag Race UK participants reached a new low when one posted several brutal tweets about the other’s death on X. Tyra Sanchez and The Vivienne (aka James Lee Williams) competed on the show in 2019, with The Vivienne coming out on top. The Vivienne died last week, prompting Sanchez to reshare this tweet The Vivienne’s posted in 2020: “Bet Tyra was fuming when she realised Netflix Spoiled the win too. Sorry gal. You tried though,’” and to add: “Yet it doesn’t compare to the fumes of the crematorium.” When fans and other drag stars reacted, Sanchez doubled down, tweeting a picture of a crematorium retort captioned: “Songs I would play if I owned a crematorium.” 

Taking them home

A Taiwanese man has made it his mission to fulfill the dying wishes of Chinese soldiers who had been stationed on his island. Over the past 21 years, Liu De-wen has personally delivered to mainland China the cremated remains of 300 military men who had served their country in Taiwan during China’s decades-long civil war. After China lifted a ban in 1987 that had kept these soldiers from returning home, about 1,800 remained on the island, unable to travel due to their age or health. Liu befriended several of them, who shared with him their desire for their ashes to be placed with those of their parents in China. Last week, Liu flew from Taiwan to China with the remains of two of these veterans strapped to his chest in his carry-on bag. It’s a mission to which he’s dedicated his life, having to overcome financial and logistical challenges to complete each delivery.

Kudos on the honor!

Congratulations to Garland Brothers Funeral Home of Albany, New York on their induction into the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry. Garland Brothers is the Black-owned funeral home in the northeastern United States. James C. Garland founded the funeral home in 1929 during the Great Depression to serve the Black community, and 96 years later, members of the Garland family are still carrying on that legacy.