When a celebrity dies in L.A., it's a somber moment. But it's also an opportunity for competition among journalists and pundits.

Members of the media can make mistakes, over-reach, and downright go too far.

That was the case for some of the coverage of Whitney Houston's untimely demise in Beverly Hills over the weekend:

Even before she died, one reporter made statements she'll probably regret.

Stephanie Bauer of the website Hollyscoop said in a video report Friday that the singer had been seen “looking and acting like a hot mess” at a pre-Grammy party Thursday at club Tru in Hollywood:

When she left the club she seemed disoriented and angry and had blood dripping down her leg and scratch marks on her wrists. She looked disheveled and appeared to be shouting and pointing at someone as she was led out of the nightclub by a few concerned looking friends. Whitney seemed to be intoxicated or using other substances as she stumbled to a waiting car … We're happy to see Whitney back on the scene even if she is acting a little crazy, 'cause I'll admit it's a little more fun to watch.

Not so fun, apparently, on Saturday, when Bauer tweeted:

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Her video report has been removed from YouTube, but you can still find it here.

Not to be outdone, our friend Nancy Grace of CNN (this reporter has appeared on her show a few times) suggested this week that someone might have pushed Houston into the tub where she was found submerged and expired Saturday afternoon in a room at the Beverly Hilton hotel:

I'd like to know … who let her slip or pushed her underneath that water … who let Whitney Houston go under her water?

Fox News' conservative talker Bill O'Reilly, a.k.a. Bill O'Lie-lly, actually suggested possible suicide:

It is obvious the woman destroyed herself and over the weekend the woman was found dead in a bathtub at a Los Angeles hotel … The hard truth is that some people will always want to destroy themselves …

And there you have the definition of “too soon.”

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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