'Breaking Bad' Funeral for Walter White Raises $17,000 for Charity Weeks After Obituary in ABQ Newspaper

By Myles Collier, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Residents in Albuquerque are upset after fans of the hit television series "Breaking Bad" held a mock funeral in a real cemetery for the show's main character Walter White.

Roughly 200 fans paid to throw dirt on an empty coffin as reports indicate that the funeral raised nearly $17,000 for a local charity.

However, family members who have loved ones buried at Sunset Memorial Park are not happy that the fake funeral took place, as reported by KOB.com.

Officials at Sunset Memorial Park insisted they will remove the memorial if it becomes too much of a distraction.

"We are a cemetery first and foremost," says the general manager, per the Albuquerque Journal. "Our allegiance lies with our families that have allowed us to bury their loved ones here."

This was not the only action to be taken by fans after the series finale a few weeks ago. Fans of the show decided to provide their own source of closure by publishing an obituary of lead character Walter White in a local Albuquerque newspaper.

Science teacher David Layman, one of the members an unofficial fan group that placed the obituary, stated that it will help provide closure, according to The Associated Press.

The notice appeared on page A4 of the Journal with the headline "White, Walter" and includes a photo of Bryan Cranston, the actor who played the chemistry teacher who transformed into a drug kingpin.

The obituary says the 52-year-old "founded a meth manufacturing empire" and he died "after a long battle with lung cancer and a gunshot wound."

The show shot each of the five seasons in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

10.3 million people watched the finale of the series Sunday night, according to AMC. The previous record was 6.6 million. So, it's fair to say that "Breaking Bad" did not just break the record, they shattered it.