There are few more devastating moments in Australian television history than when Patrick Reid (Matthew Le Nevez) passed away after being hit by a car on Offspring. But for the Californian skate punk band The Offspring, it became a rare opportunity to troll the shit out of a swathe of grieving Aussies.
I fear I have never felt the level of grief for a fictional character as deeply as I did — and still do — for Patrick. When the devastating episode aired on the 7th of August 2013, people did the only thing they felt they could do to go through the natural stages of mourning: they took to Twitter.
Watching @offspring before bed was a mistake, can’t believe they killed him off. Tears.
— Carla JS (@CarlsCarla) August 7, 2013
Is there one @Offspring fan in Australia who hasn’t bawled for the last 10 minutes like me? Gut-wrenchng. 🙁
— Nicola Marsh Author (@NicolaMarsh) August 7, 2013
It seems that through their probable tear-soaked eyes, a lot of people directed their disbelief, anger and sadness to the wrong Offspring collective. Instead of tweeting at Offspring (the television show), they tagged in Offspring (the band).
And the band replied.
@Jessica93M Everybody dies. That’s just the way the world works. -N
— The Offspring (@offspring) August 7, 2013
Noodles (AKA Kevin Wasserman) dished out some hard truths about life, grief and how death will eventually come knocking on everyone’s doors.
@chelsfammartino Its just a damn TV show. Don’t let it get to you so much.
— The Offspring (@offspring) August 7, 2013
@Afa_Lama @NicolaMarsh I’m lmfao. Especially at Patrick & Nina. What’re they thinking? -N
— The Offspring (@offspring) August 7, 2013
@Puschka08 Yes. But you gotta mess with people who send tweets to the wrong twitter account. -N
— The Offspring (@offspring) August 7, 2013
Before long he was reminding people that Offspring really is just a scripted program on the telly and we shouldn’t let it get to us too much. I mean Matthew Le Nevez didn’t actually die — in fact, he went on to star on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
Then Noodles decided to lean right in and kick the hornet’s nest with a tweet that still lives rent-free in my mind nearly a decade later.
@CarlsCarla Some of us are glad he’s gone. That prick got what he deserved. -Niz
— The Offspring (@offspring) August 7, 2013
Honestly, a Hall Of Famer of a tweet. Hang it in the Louvre. One of the all-timers on the bad bird website.
Let this be a word of warning to you all who love to fire off tweets in the heat of the moment: make sure you’re tagging in the right account. Don’t assume because, as my mum always says, that’ll just make an ass of u in front of me.
