Glee actor Mark Salling has committed suicide, TMZ reports.
Law enforcement officials told the gossip site his body was found hanging from a tree in a riverbed near his home.
The news comes a month after the actor pleaded guilty to child pornography possession.
On December 29, 2015, Salling was arrested at his home in Los Angeles and charged with owning over 50,000 images of child pornography.
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After pleading guilty on September 30, 2017, Salling said he’d register as a sex offender.
“I can confirm that Mark Salling passed away early this morning,” Sallling’s attorney said in a statement.
“Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistakes and errors of judgment.”
The actor was to appear in court again for sentencing and expected to receive four to seven years in prison due to a plea deal.
He’d previously attempted suicide by slashing his wrists in August 2017.
mhoffman953
That’s a shame. I thought he would’ve hung around longer
Goforit
Very poor chose of words. But considering your comments on other stories, I should not have expected any more of you.
dwes09
While it is difficult to muster any sort of empathy for someone who preys on pre-pubescent kids, it is difficult for mhoffman to muster empathy for anyone but other regressives who get their feathers ruffled in any way.
We don’t know that Salling actually acted on these desires, just that he had a huge amount of the porn on his computer. The short sentence implies there was no evidence of actual sexual abuse on his part. But we must acknowledge that the desire for this kind of pornography contributes to the sexual abuse of children.
Brody
Great gallows humor, there, mhoff.
Lindoro Almaviva
“We don’t know that Salling actually acted on these desires, just that he had a huge amount of the porn on his computer. The short sentence implies there was no evidence of actual sexual abuse on his part.”
Dwes, I have to disagree with your point there, strongly. The fact that he had those images, IS sexual abuse. these children are victimized not only when they are forced into situations a child should never be put through, but also every time anyone makes a profit off the images taken, every time anyone forwards, buys or even loans on of those images, those children are victimized over again.
So, yes, he acted on his desires when he bought and collected sexually charged images of children, some as young as 3. Please do not make it seem like he somehow got a bad chance because he did not jump in bed with a child, or was present when the images were created. These children can not defend themselves, and that is reason enough to catalog the possession of child pornography as sexual abuse.
The fact that he was expected to have such a short sentence has nothing to do with his actions prior to the indictment and likely everything to do with the fact that his lawyers negotiated a plea deal that allowed him to serve a reduce sentence, likely by giving up the source of the images.
Navalator
mhoffman953 is a brain dead moron who has his head up his ass.
mhoffman953
@Goforit
“Very poor chose of words. But considering your comments on other stories, I should not have expected any more of you.”
Those in glass houses should not throw stones. I distinctively remember you telling many people on this site that you wish they would die and stop breathing. Just look at the comments you made on this story: https://www.queerty.com/trans-woman-wins-5-million-wont-share-dime-awful-kids-rejected-20180105
mhoffman953
@dwes09
“it is difficult for mhoffman to muster empathy for anyone ”
Incorrect. I just don’t have empathy for people who get their rocks off on watching children get abused.
whitakerk861
@dwes09 You do realize how messed up your opinion is about child pornography, right? You state, “We don’t know that Salling actually acted on these desires, just that he had a huge amount of the porn on his computer.” Salling, and those who collect child pornography, create the demand that feeds the supply. Collectors are the problem. I don’t know if the majority may not engage in sexual activity with minors; however, they are the reason the demand for such horrific material exists. The consumers of this material are encouraging, if not requesting, that others commit these acts on their behalf for their personal pleasure. Yes, Salling is the bigger problem than the material. It’s economics 101. With no demand, there is no supply.
Raymond
You can exit this world any way you wish at any time – no one will miss you.
Rex Huskey
good riddance to bad rubbish!
projo
Yes, what he did was horrible but he has a horrible psychological condition. Not excusing it but it is what it is and I’m sure if he could have helped it, he would have stopped it. I had a high school classmate and friend arrested due to an FBI investigation w/ child porn. He was actually a good, decent person but had this disease he couldn’t control by himself. Its tragic on all fronts, for everyone involved. My friend also killed himself before taken to jail. Those arrested for child porn are #1 targets once in prison.
John
Good looking guy but a very troubled soul. Those who commit child crimes are the lowest forms of life. He would have died in jail. I’m sure he knew that, so he did it himself.
radiooutmike
50,000 images of child pornography? How industrious must you be to amass that amount? I don’t think I’ve seen 50,000 images of adult pornography in my lifetime…
Him committing suicide was probably the best outcome he could hope for.
Donston
And hundreds of videos of kids as young and 3-5.
However, I’m not gonna celebrate anyone’s suicide.
PinkoOfTheGange
doing the math that is 14 pix a day for 10 years.
mhoffman953
@radiooutmike
I’m also reading that he sorted folders on his computer based on the girl’s ages. Nearly all of the content featured babies and children from ages 3-5 engaged in sex acts.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4624128/shamed-glee-star-mark-sallings-victims-may-have-been-brit-youngsters-court-documents-reveal/
Brody
I wasn’t aware that pedophiles were now part of the lgbtq+++ alphabet, but here we are with an article about one on Queerty.
smh . . .
jason_melvil
I’m guessing it’s more likely because he was on Glee
Juanjo
It’s ok Brody – no one has evidence sufficient to blow your cover. This guy was heteronormative and the pornography was all of females. I would point out something I learned some years ago when dealing with cops and prosecutors in cases involving minors, whether age 5 or age 17, cops will seize any and all porn in the house and then catalog it. They will search it for any image they think shows someone underage. They will list anything they wish as suspected underage and then leave it to the experts to analyze.
But if for example, they seize 400 individual videos and 6,000 photos and of that number they find 2 photos which look underage and one video which looks like it is underage, then the press release reads as follows, ” we searched the premises and removed 400 videos and 6,000 photographs showing kids as young as ___. The other 399 videos may have been all garden variety porn available for sale anywhere and the other 5,998 photos may have shown mifls but that will not be mentioned at all.
mhoffman953
@Juanjo
Wow, that’s some story. I never knew that cops seized your computer for child pornography before. Jeez, who would’ve thought
SiamSam
@mhoffman953 JuanJo is onto something here. The police can pull you over for a busted taillight, find find a joint in the back seat and suddenly it’s a “drug-related offence.” The police have every incentive to exaggerate “moral panic” crimes like child porn and drugs to increase their budgets.
mhoffman953
@SiamSam
I wouldn’t say that this particular incident would be one of the ones that are exaggerated. Especially when he had folders on his computer labeled “[child’s name] – 2 yo, [child’s name] – 3 yo, etc” and even according to court documents had videos of a 3 year old getting banged by an adult and another video titled “5yo best c*ck sucker in the world”
Brody
Juan –
Sam –
I couldn’t care less if the cops exaggerated or not, it doesn’t sway the fact that this guy was contributing to the sexual abuse of children by having even one image.
alanballs
@Brody: Nope….pedophiles are not a part of our alphabet….there’s a “q” but not a “p”.
Is THAT what my high school English teacher meant, when he told me to mind my p’s and q’s?
leobaga
And Hollywood keeps telling us how to live our lives.
DCguy
Yes, instead of Hollywood why don’t we talk about former House Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert who was raped multiple kids when and went to jail for hiding money dealing with the blackmailing of one of them.
Or about GOP Rep Mark Foley who was caught sending sexual texts to underaged interns.
So is that what you want to talk about?
mhoffman953
@DCguy
Um…because this thread is about someone in Hollywood and not a politician. That’s probably why leobaga referenced Hollywood. You seem very unhinged lately
Sam6969
In this case, I think prevention would have been better than punishment. People like Mark Salling should first be condemned to a strict medical treatment, if and only if they did not act on their urges (or reoffended). They are ill, fragile and jail (or it perspective) does not help at all in the healing process.
ProfessorMoriarty
There is no medical cure for pedophilia.
stranger2myself
There’s chemical castration (pills). Which solves an issue of urge and sexual pleasure. It’s very inhumane, but then it’s safer option than dealing with victims or any outcome if such person becomes a predator. It’s a shame no one could help him.
gymmuscleboy
I shouldn’t have assumed he was gay for being on this site. He’s not gay.
Sam6969
Where is it written he is a pedophile unable to controlling himself?
To see the difference, read this article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/pedophilia-probably-cant-be-cured-by-drugs-2016-5?IR=T
In particular, it reads: “Most pedophiles are perfectly capable of controlling themselves and understand the damage that will be done to children by sexual abuse. We need to stop panicking about pedophiles, and focus our efforts on offering treatment and help to anyone struggling with their sexual urges. That’s what will help our children grow up safely. »
Sam6969
post intended to ProfessorMoriarty
Chevelter
People’s lives are much greater than the worst things they’ve ever done. He was obviously a troubled soul.
Navalator
Watch the trolls emerge from the swamp on this one. The hypocritical moralists just love these kinds of opportunities. The post by Rex Huskey comes to mind.
darren michaels
Some evidence suggests those who view the abuse of children could have experienced child sexual abuse in their own past.
We will never know why Mr.Salling resorted to viewing the material he did, no matter there is never a good reason. Though some studies suggest viewing child pornography decreases the likelihood of an individual committing physical child sexual abuse. The pornography acts as a substitute for actual offences. Stands to reason it might benefit the one viewing yet a child would have had to have been abused as a matter of production.
Viewers of child pornography have many reasons for doing so, but each view, a child has been irreparably harmed. All child pornography offences are extremely serious for the perpetual abuse of the child and it’s validating and it’s normalizing of sexual exploitation of children. Mr.Sailing was very obviously experiencing something the majority will never know, he, unfortunately, made choices for whatever reason that resulted in making his fortunate opportunities very difficult. We should all understand the choices we make and the result required for those choices to become a reality.
The abuse of anyone for any reason is never okay and needs to be a greater focus.
Abusers have been facing a recent reaction of attention that is long overdue. Unfortunately, too many problems are avoided for the sake of being hard to discuss, and it is avoiding discussions that benefit the abusers. For the sake of individuals being abused, we need to all look past our own pain so victims of abuse are able to avoid even a small amount of their own.
SiamSam
@darren michaels Good comment. I wonder what will happen legally when photo-realistic CGI child porn becomes cheap and easy to produce? Technically speaking, no child will have been harmed in its production and it may make satiate most undiagnozed and closet pedos enough not to abuse real children.
SiamSam
He wasn’t kidding around.
rdb2010
RIP, Mark.
CanadianGuy62
Stunning that he was even allowed out until being sentenced! He could easily have preyed upon some poor child.
Good riddance, scum!
SiamSam
Hilarious. So many here trying hard to understand and empathize with a pedophile, reserving judgment and seeking answers, but if you voted for Trump you are a Nazi, end of discussion.
Brian
It’s the same people who want to criminalize guns, but legalize drugs, even though drugs destroy infinitely more lives than guns do.
SiamSam
@Brian I would say drug prohibition destroys more lives than drug addiction but that could become a long off-topic thread. 😉
Trekbike
I totally agree. I believe Trump is a predator as well. He’s gotten away with his sexual crimes against innocent people because of his money but, that’s begging to crumble. I hope Trump pays dearly with his ass for all of the pain he’s caused so many innocent people.
Doug
I find this very sad, and wouldn’t be surprised if he was sexually abused as a child too.
thisiswhatithunk
I can’t empathise or sympathise in this situation. This man, and men like him, contributed and continue to contribute to the ongoing abuse of children everywhere. For those on here who can’t (or won’t) see it in such black & white terms then I can only assume you have no children of your own. I’m a fervent liberal, but not when it comes to the safety of my child and other children. The bigger question for me is WHY is this Queerty news? Glee was an LGBTQ hit, but it’s been over for years. This a pedophile story and as such has no place on a gay website.
Trekbike
I agree and why is it that gay men are synonymous with the word pedophile! It’s the religious rights go to word for gay men. Statistics show that straight white men make up the majority pedophiles.
Captain Obvious
Wasn’t gonna post but the same commenters who cry bloody murder over “black homophobia” are empathizing with a known pedophile. Stay classy.
Donston
Ultimately, we’re all hypocrites in one way or another. Comment sections (and in particularly on this site) just tend to bring out the most hypocritical people and the most hypocritical responses.
The elephant in the room is that a decent amount of gay, gay-leaning, queer people were molested, abused or sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. The numbers for gay or gay-leaning men being abused, assaulted or raped at one point in their life run almost as high ratio-wise as what happens to women in general. And almost 40% of criminal cases where a man sexually engages with someone who is 14 or younger the victim is another male. (And yes, I am aware that it doesn’t happen anywhere near close to everyone. But it’s a pretty big numbers nonetheless). This is partially why an uncomfortable amount of queer men contend with things like internalized homophobia, misandry, frayed egos, depression, self-destructive instincts, etc. Though there’s a ton of differenet and contradictory pieces to that can be apart of that puzzle. But it can also lead to some defending this type of behavior or instincts or at least looking to be more sympathetic towards it.
However, I do agree that only focusing on embarrassing, shaming and locking up people doesn’t help people for society in the long rum. More emphasis should be placed on trying to get people to open up about these attractions and/or desires and confront these problems. Having attractions dominated by children is a paraphilia. And there are many people with paraphilias and is sometimes an inherent part of someone’s psychology. Of course, everyone who indulging pedo instincts or desires do it for different reasons. While my sympathy is scant I do think it’ll do these men (and women) and potential victims more good if this were a society where people could more openly talk about these things.
ChrisK
Racists!! Racists everywhere! As far as the eye can see. Hello everyone. I’m captain oblivious and I have nothing of value to say. Just wanted to remind you all what Racists you are.
Captain Obvious
Thoughtful reply, Donston. I happened to get abused twice in school at an early age though so I just can’t muster sympathy for them. At the end of the day attraction or not they know it’s wrong and should be hands off and not downloading pictures of naked children.
Cool troll post, Chris whoever you are. Not sure why you remember me. Says a lot about you. 😉
Malestorm
RIP Mark. Who knows what brought you to this point in your life. Where you maybe abused as a young boy and trying to work it out in your head? What did you go through? May you have learned whatever lessons you needed to learn in this life.
Sam6969
Malestorm: I love your heartful comment and others like yours. It brings a bit of warmth (and wisdom) in this judgemental comment section.
prarie pup
dwes09 are you kidding? the mere possession of “kiddy porn” is enough to get you at least a few years in the penitentiary; actual child molestation will get you a few DECADES.
chris33133
I feel worst for his family. It will take some of them decades to get over this, if even then. … I know because I have siblings who never recovered from the shock of our oldest sib’s suicide. And that happened decades ago.
ShowMeGuy
That much of anything collected and organized onto a computer seems like it would take insane amounts of time to do from scratch. Seems like anyone with a job wouldn’t have that amount of free time.
Maybe he declined the invitation to join the entertainment cult so they ended him.
nitejonboy
Always a shame to lose someone with talent,he could have turned his life around. RIP.
the_ashpan
I’m amazed at just how many he had….50,000 AND 10,000 videos!!! It’s just not acceptable, however you look at it and I’ve said for years that prison is just no good, it doesn’t rehabilitate anyone and doesn’t get to the cause of paedophilia.
I have no sympathy with those who act on these urges and also viewing/collecting images is JUST as bad……it fuels the ‘industry’ and turns children in to sexual commodities, which is inexcusable!
the_ashpan
@juanjo I never knew that.
alanballs
After pondering Mark’s suicide and the events that lead up to it….I believe that sometimes, yes sometimes, suicide IS the right thing to do.
He’s put himself out of misery and can move on to his next human experience if he so chooses. He didn’t have to suffer abuses in prison. He didn’t cost tax payers millions of dollars to keep him there. And no one has to worry about what happens when he gets released from prison.
It IS sad that someone as talented, good-looking, “gentle”, and apparently successful as Mark, gave in to what he certainly knew were illegal, immoral and hurtful activities. Maybe he WAS abused as a boy. Maybe there are ‘reasons’ (not justifications) for his sexual appetites. We’ll never know.
RIP Mark. I sure did enjoy your performances on GLEE.
DCguy
He had all the credentials to be a Republican Congressman or Evangelical Pastor.
Foxmeak
I wish everyone in this comments section would stop using the term ‘child pornography’. The correct term is ‘indecent images/video of children’. The word ‘pornography’ implies consent, and clearly, there is no consent when children are involved.
MacAdvisor
Hogwash. Porn may imply consent, but the word child in front and the consent goes away. Porn and child porn are two very different things.
MacAdvisor
I disagree with most of those commenting here. I think the loss of Mark and his uniqueness to the world is a major and unmitigated loss. I am greatly saddened by his passing.
First, I don’t think his having those pictures is such a great crime. There is a famous legal case called Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928). It is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. The opinion in the case was written by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo, a leading figure in the development of American common law and later a United States Supreme Court justice. The plaintiff, Helen Palsgraf, was taking her daughters to the beach in August 1924. A man, attempted to board a moving train (aided by railroad employees), dropped a package. The package contained fireworks, which fell underneath the wheel of the train and exploded. The explosion caused a large scale on the platform to hit her. After the incident, she began to stammer, and subsequently sued the railroad. The whole thing was a bit of a Rube Goldberg machine. Judge Cardozo’s majority opinion held her stuttering was simply too far removed from the railroad employee’s actions for the railroad to be liable.
I think Mark’s possession of those photographs was simply too far removed from their creation to in any real way give him liability for there creation. Some had been found in prosecutions going back decades. There wasn’t any evidence Mark asked for them to be created, bought them from anyone involved in the creation. More likely than not, Mark was far removed from the people who abused the children. Thus, I don’t believe he has liability. The photos exit. However evil their creation, that evil is far too attenuated to attach to Mark. The medical community regularly uses the data collected by Dr. Mengele. His actions were horrible, but the resulting data has gone on to do some good. Using that data now does not implicate one in Mengele creating them.
Second, unlike other crimes, this crime doesn’t require any intent or action. No one has provided any evidence that Mark ever looked at the pictures, that Mark ever downloaded the pictures, that Mark ever paid for any of the pictures, that Mark was even aware of the pictures. Unlike almost all other criminal charges, one is guilty for the mere, perhaps unknowing, possession. For those of you who suggest he is actually guilty merely because he plead guilty, he would have face more than a lifetime in prison if he’d gone to trial. Given the reactions of the people here, I think we clearly know he would have been convicted despite any real proof.
Not one person has come forward to claim the $50,000 per photo available to the victims. That is how long forgot this material is. If Mark was a pedophile, then he satisfied his urges in the most socially positive way possible: he never touched a child, never asked for a child to be harmed, never did anything, but, at worst, look at a photo. If we make the photos so outrageous a crime, I think we incentive pedophiles to act out with real children, thus creating real harm.
I met Mark at two occasions. Both times were brief photo ops, but he treated this fat, old, queer man with kindness and genuine interest. I am forever happy I met him and I will treasure the work he left behind.
His suicide is not a positive. It leaves behind grief and sadness to his friends, fans, and family.
I miss you, Mark, and I hope you are now at peace.
snagboy
Thank you for that incredibly educated and spot on assessment of this tragic situation. This country is so politically correct that any type of positive comment directed towards someone who has been unfairly accused and convicted before any type of trial occurs, makes me sick. Thank you again and bravo!
pierscik
MacAdvisor, both your response to Foxmeak and your humane and thoughtful following post are both on point. You are a prime example of emapathy, understanding, forgiveness and regret…. and that most shining of examples….kindness. Thanks for posting..