Joan Rivers died on Thursday at Mt. Sinai Hospital, her daughter Melissa Rivers told media outlets. The 81-year old was rushed to the hospital after she stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest during elective surgery for her vocal cords last week.
Doctors at Mt. Sinai eventually removed Rivers from a medically induced coma and placed her on life support until Thursday afternoon. The Brooklyn born television personality and comedian shot to stardom after her first appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1965.
Rivers spared no one from her wit and wisdom. An outspoken personality, she never apologized for her jokes that some celebrities and politicians took offense to. In an interview with this reporter at The Washington Times in 2010 Rivers discussed her political views including what she thought about the death tax:
PICKET: So what are your thoughts on the Obama administration’s economic policy … the stimulus … and what not?
RIVERS: Well I can’t wait until he decides to tax me some more on my deathbed. I’m really thrilled about that. That’s called double taxation. I’m very angry about that. It’s starting this December. In New York, it’s beginning already. I just think, “Stop.” Help the people. Educate the people. Look what they’re doing in China. They are educating their children. They have smaller families, and they are educating them, and that’s what we should be doing.
PICKET: Their foreign policy … Do you feel the Obama administration is being too hard on Israel and too soft on the Middle East?
RIVERS: I think its [ridiculous]. I just don’t know what the plan is. I don’t get it. Israel is the only sane … We all know why we’re nice to Israel, because we know where Israel is situated, and I don’t know what this is supposed to be. I don’t get it. Tell Mr. Obama to stop doing so many jokes and get to work, and I voted for him.
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