Last week I watched Postcards from the Edge, based on Carrie Fisher's semi-autobiographical novel. A day or two later, Fisher had a heart attack. I suspect that her death was a severe shock to Debbie Reynolds, contributing to her death.
While Reynolds is best known for Singin' in the Rain, my favorite of her roles is in In & Out, where she plays the mother of a literature teacher (Kevin Kline) whose sexual orientation comes into question.
RIP
In all seriousness, I think that if it is possible to jinx people, it's definitely more likely that they would be jinxed by people saying things like "who next?" And "can you possibly get any worst?" And then "better go and hide [insert celebrity name here] before they die too!" Asking THOSE kinds of questions and saying those kinds of things most certainly can't be good.
If people are really so devastated over celebrity deaths, it seems to me that they would be too afraid to even bring up the idea of another one dying – unless they want to spur it on somehow! That's what I don't understand – people keep asking "who next?" And "Can it possibly get any worse?" – As though they want things to get worse.
To my way of thinking, when people ask those sorts of questions, they're putting the idea out there to the universe – almost as bad as a death wish for someone. They all just need to shut up.
That's not to say that I haven't wondered these things myself – of course I have, and it's probably only natural to do so. But don't blurted out, to give other people the same worry – unless you want to worry – and the consequences – to spread. As I said, almost like a death wish.
Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!