But wait, there’s more.
Fans of the late legendary TV host Billy Mays have chosen not to leave flowers at his grave, but instead leave bottles of OxyClean, the cleaning product that made Mays famous throughout the 2000s.
“I just got to Pittsburgh and someone left OxyClean on my dad’s grave,” Mays’ son, Billy Mays III, wrote to X on Monday after visiting his father’s gravesite.
Mays III attached a photo of the grave, with a spray bottle of OxiClean placed on the base of the headstone.
The grave itself is a fitting memorial to Mays, including an etched image of him wearing an OxyClean shirt and giving his trademark thumbs up, and calling him a “salesman” as well as his “beloved husband and son.”
Mays died of a heart attack at his Florida home in 2009, aged 50, and a subsequent autopsy found that cocaine use “contributed to the cause of death” and exacerbated an existing heart condition.
But his family called the findings, and subsequent reports of drug abuse, “speculation.” According to NBC News:A subsequent coroner’s report found that cocaine was not involved in his death, but could not rule out drug use.
Mays became famous as a loudmouth salesman promoting products like OxyClean, Orange Glow, Kaboom and Mighty Putty.
A native of Pittsburgh, he learned the craft of peddling after moving to Atlantic City in his 20s, and began competing with veteran salesmen hawking their wares on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
He honed his skills traveling the country performing in sales shows, then moved to television in the 1990s and established himself as a pop culture icon.
His thick black hair and beard, as distinctive as the designer work shirts he wore in his commercials, became synonymous with late-night TV for many after regular programming ended and infomercials took over until the crack of dawn.
Mays is not the only popular TV commentator to court controversy.
Vince Offer, popularly known as the “Shamwow Guy,” was arrested in 2009 after getting into an altercation with a prostitute who bit his tongue.
The arrest and subsequent embarrassing mugshot derailed Offer’s career for several years, but he later said it was the catalyst for turning his life around.
“It probably saved my life,” he told NBC News, explaining how the fame and fortune he gained from his status as a TV icon led him down a dark path.
