Over the weekend, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office released the official cause of death beloved KTLA morning news personality Chris Burrous.
According to the report, 43-year-old Burrous was found unconscious in a motel room in Glendale, California on December 27 after a man called police to say “an individual he was with had passed out and was possibly not breathing.”
The man, who said he initially met Burrous on Grindr and had seen him four times previously for sex, tried to perform CPR on Burrous before paramedics arrived. Shortly before Burrous had fallen unconscious, he’d inserted two rocks of crystal meth in his rectum.
Burrous died while in transit to the hospital.
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Since the report was made public, people have been divided over whether it was fair for the Coroner to release the full thing given its horrific contents.
Many feel the lurid details should have been kept private:
It saddens me that some one felt it necessary to publicize the full and detailed autopsy report of #KTLA reporter #ChrisBurrous without a care or concern of the potential impact on his young daughter. Parents talk and kids can be vicious. The details should have been kept private
— Bubble (@MaidQuitNoChef) February 23, 2019
I do not care how it happened. All that matters is that a wonderful human is gone. I miss Chris Burrous deeply every day and my heart hurts for his family.
— Kristan (@kristan_k) February 22, 2019
@KTLAMorningNews in ??with this Chris Burrous report! Why the fuck did they release this..why why why!!! TMI!!!
— ED (@EDABBYED) February 25, 2019
I will remember Chris for who he was…and not how he die?! Peace to his family??? #ChrisBurrous https://t.co/TSqxRPsGlh
— Matthew Fillion (@fillion_matthew) February 23, 2019
Others seem to think it’s fair game:
It was Chris Burrous’ actions that hurt and embarrassed his family and friends. It’s not the coroner office’s job to maintain his image.
— Sarah (@sdspoole79) February 23, 2019
Shit the details of the #chrisburrous autopsy and death just playout like an episode of SVU. Wow.
— Chante' (@FutureSoBrite_) February 22, 2019
Wow, this stains everyone at KTLA , you all act like you’re better than the rest of us, especially Liberte -you can all go suck rocks!#ChrisBurrous
— impeachthefatorangeman (@impeachthefato1) February 23, 2019
The truth about @chrisburrous is finally out and I’m shook
— B. (@QueeenBay) February 23, 2019
And then there are the trolls who seem to think the whole thing is one big gay joke…
Guy was fisting his ass with meth in it. Wtf lmao #chrisburrous
— Emperor coach (@tedcruzloser) February 23, 2019
Chris Burrous about to take that second helping of meth stuffing pic.twitter.com/xnaYVw3HPa
— Macroagressive (@8ntdatsumshit) February 23, 2019
I'm usually not one to care what someone does in their personal life, but if Chris Burrous was living a double life and sleeping with strangers behind his wife's back, possibly exposing her to God knows what, then he was trash.
— N?laChick (@TheNolaChick) February 23, 2019
#ChrisBurrous
U SHAMEFUL
NASTY MAN
THANK GOD UR ?
OTHERWISE UR WIFE WOULD KILL U pic.twitter.com/yZWfmToygd— SmArTyCaT (@highwayranger75) February 23, 2019
Burrous appeared on Los Angeles’ KTLA since 2011, co-anchoring the weekend edition of KTLA Morning News and acting as a correspondent for other affiliate telecasts. He was well-known for his “Burrous Bites” segments featuring local restaurants.
He is survived by a wife and daughter. The other man was not charged with a crime and the death was ruled accidental.
Related: Married news anchor’s death deemed meth overdose after Grindr hookup gone wrong
mr guy
Well Queerty can’t be too disgusted at the sick homophobic memes if they’re willing to help spread them
QueerTruth
Nailed it. Exactly. Hypocrites.
MarathonBoy
No shield for promiscuity and adultery. Light is the best disinfectant. Expose it, shame it, mock it, marginalize it. Like the hippies used to say in the 60s, “Let it all hang out, baby!”
Vince
Speaking of shame. Go back under your bridge. Promiscuity, promiscuity!!!! You’re just a broken record and a mentally ill troll.
MarathonBoy
Yep, Vince, I comment about promiscuity. And ya know why? Because Queerty runs a lot of stories on promiscuity, in an obvious attempt to normalize, defend and/or celebrate it. So long as Queerty has its say on the subject, so shall I and so shall other gay men who feel as I do. If/when Queerty posts less frequently about this, I’ll have less to say.
PinkoOfTheGange
One church lady’s promiscuity and adultery is another normal persons agreed boundaries of their relationship with their partner.
QueerTruth
Let he who is without sin throw the…. first dumb judgmental crap. Do you feel better judging a dead man who you know nothing about?
surreal33
Amen
Wicked Dickie
It’s not like he died in a car crash, or of natural causes. He died from shoving crystal meth (a gay party drug) up his ass. And, oh by the way, his wife raised $115K from Go Fund Me. Why’s a well know news reporter’s family in need of financial aid?
Brian
Didn’t you know Go Fund Me is the new life insurance? All you need is an interesting enough death and ka ching!! Only us dinosaurs still plan for our own demise.
Vince
I have to agree with the first comments about releasing the meth up his ass details. I don’t really think it played that much a part in his death as opposed to the poppers and GHB did. At the very least that part should have remained private.
Heywood Jablowme
Wouldn’t the meth (anally) be MUCH more of a factor than the others?
Chrisk
The fact that he had a mask on and it was full of vomit I would bet the GHB was what killed him.
Remember the dude that died on the cruise last year? The one that chased the tornadoes. He died of just a GHB overdose.
Curtispsf
Meth is not associated with vomiting. GHB is. In fact, meth is often used to counteract a GHB overdose. I’m betting the GHB killed him. GHB does not have a “wide” dose range; the dose for getting high is fairly close to that of an overdose so if I were the coroner, I would have characterized this as a GHB overdose. However, meth overdose due to meth inserted rectally is much more titillating and salacious then death due to oral ingesting of GHB.
Hdtex
He didn’t DO the GHB moron. The other guy did.
scruffbutt
Defember 27? Didn’t he just die last week?
WindsorOntario
He looked quite a bit older than 43. Was that his real age?
Chrisk
If you look at his face it’s very youthful-looking. I think it’s his haircut that’s not helping. It’s kind of old-school. Of course if you want to be taken seriously on a network that’s probably a good thing to do.
Brian
I think that’s the preferred news anchor look. I met one of our local news anchors at his home several years back. I recognized the name but never watched the news. Afterward, when I did check out the news it was shocking how different he looked on TV, and definitely not for the better.
Jackrabbit
They don’t hold back cause of death on Porn stars, they have families too……….. just saying.
Heywood Jablowme
Family and friends don’t get to have veto power over info like this. That notion is just mawkish sentimentality.
It’s good the coroner gave the details, if only because most of the public doesn’t know the dangers of meth. (Before this I’d never even heard that meth can be taken anally at all! Maybe I’ve had a more sheltered life than I realized.)
In the last story about this, Queerty blamed a mysterious “cultural shift” for why so many gay men are STILL unaware of the dangers of meth. Well, I don’t know what cultural shift they mean but it has to be countered by publicizing meth fatalities.
Polaro
I was totally unaware people put meth in their butt. Probably we only needed to know it was a meth overdose, not that he had it in his rectum. Ah, the sheltered life I lead.
Brian
But now you know putting it up your butt can kill you, so the more you know?
Curtispsf
Brian, THIS story should read “GHB taken orally can cause you to vomit and die”. During my years on the circuit club scene, I’ve seen dozens and dozens of GHB overdoses. I NEVER once saw a meth overdose. In fact, I once witnessed a severe GHB overdose be brought back to consciousness with meth. The most that would happen to those “tweekers” is that they’d be screaming for more dance music once the lights came on and the clubs were closing. So long as the meth queens stayed away from GHB, the most that would happen is that they would run out of steam and eventually crash…even if it took days. I’m not by any means saying that meth use is safe; I’ve seen it ruin many lives.
Brian
THIS story is based on the coroner’s report, which stated the cause of death as “methamphetamine toxicity”. So whatever you saw on the club scene really doesn’t apply, unless you think the coroner is incompetent or lying about this guy.
Maybe you didn’t see meth overdoses because those people weren’t shoving rocks of it up their butts?
Chrisk
I have to agree with Curtispsf. The only people I’ve seen die are the slammers and that’s only because they injected a massive amount. This had all the symptoms of a GHB overdose. Most of the G leaves your body almost immediately and is very hard to detect later on because it’s also naturally occurring in your body.
Remember the UK serial killer a couple years ago. He used GHB to kill his victims. It’s very effective when the right amount is used.
Aires the Ram
Well, I feel very sorry for his wife, and especially for the “legacy” that is left for his young daughter to deal with the rest of her life. That being said, the implied & unspoken homophobia that exists for people in high profile positions still exists. He had a relatively high profile job on a major TV station in a major market. If he hadn’t presented himself to the TV industry as a heterosexual man with wifey, baby, mini-van, white picket fence, golden retriever, and the whole nine yards, he would have NEVER risen in the industry to the level he did. So, to have all that, he hid his “other” life. Say what you will about that, the opinions will run from soup to nuts. What I shouldn’t be amazed at though, is that if he had been perceived as a conservative, or had he worked at Fox News, this website and several others, including the leftist mainstream media (CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, PBS, et. al.) would’ve been all over it, demonizing conservatives, republicans, and somehow twisting it around to bash President Trump. Queerty knows this. I don’t know what this guys politics were, but my point is, if he had been “perceived” as a conservative, worked for a conservative network, this story would be much different and have a much different and very nasty tone to it. If this had happened to one of the top anchors on Fox News this site would be screaming from the rooftops. Hypocrisy at its much practiced finest.
Itsonlythetruth
The media reports all kinds of sorted stories. Should there be a double standard when it’s one of there own? Absolutely not!
iamru2
Poor guy. Good to know his trick tried to help him.
TomOH
It’s obvious this thread is loaded with jaded hetero women masquerading as gay guys. Don’t act like straight women don’t cheat – they do. Don’t act like straight women don’t do drugs – they do. Bitches please.
Polaro
True, and a lot of gay men play straight women, pearl clutching and all, on Queerty,
TomOH
It doesn’t cost $110+ grand to bury someone. She’s looking for a windfall.
@_6ft4inches_
no the public needs to know, maybe this will deter the ones who are stupid and do not know better. smh.
o.codone
IDK if it was okay to release the information or not. Especially since the coroner’s office could have just put some spin on the whole thing and said maybe he accidentally sat on some crystal meth in church one random Sunday and then, unexpectedly, it went up his ass. Twice. Something like that, something not too embarrassing. But, NO, the media are SCUM, and now every time his daughter or her friends google “Burrous death” they’re all going to get the full monty. TMI and they’re gonna say that Mom wasn’t sitting on it enough to keep Pops interested, so he ended up with a stranger who fisted his ass over and over until Chris hollered “more, more”. I mean “please sir, stop”. This whole thing is weird.
Blackceo
I agree that the details of his death should not have been made public. All that is usually given by the medical examiner is the official cause and/or manner of death That all the details of his freaky sneaky were detailed would seem like it would violate HIPPA laws on PHI, but states vary when it comes to the ethics of releasing information about a public figure. I would think that California would be one of those states that is lax when it comes to that aspect of being able to share such detailed aspects of Burrous’ death.
Its just ashame all the way around. There are so many men who feel like they have to live a certain life based on societal “norms” and hide their sexuality, thus engaging in down low activity. As for his wife, no one knows what happened behind those walls. She may have known. They may have had an arrangement. Who knows? I feel sorry for his colleagues and his family that those specific details were released. It is no one’s business.
bftlguy
Yes people put crystal meth up their butt. It’s called a booty bump. Most people dilute it with water so it breaks down and is absorbed. I don’t know how large these 2 rocks were but it seems to me that it would take quite a while for them to break down and be absorbed into the system. Certainly doesn’t seem likely this would kill him. This would however burn like hell. I’m curious if they were actually slamming but his partner got rid of the evidence before the authorities arrived. The police would be able to figure this out by taking a look at their Grindr messages. If this is the case, the role of the partner should be more closely examined.
Onecaddy13
For the record.. Autopsy results are a public record and vital info as SS# & address is redacted. (Worked in the industry 25 yrs) Its just a shame the double life he led caused his death. He betrayed his family, friends and co-workers. No one is to blame but himself. I feel for his death at such a young age, and for all affected, especially his young daughter. He knew what drugs can do if taken in mass dosages, espically the way & where he put it. This must not have been the first hes done it since he hooked up four times with the same trick. Evidently, he liked the D better than P. Sorry, just my opinion only.
Morrisson
He looks a little like Rick Santorum. I wonder if they have anything else in common?
skyreader
We don’t need every lurid detail of his death. Coroner should have shown much more discretion.