Highlights from the week in criticism.
April 10 1997 3:30 AM

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Update on the Heaven's Gate suicides: The hot topic this week is whether other cult members (aside from the 39 who killed themselves a week ago) are still alive and will follow suit. Former cult members suggest that dozens or hundreds of cultists remain, but investigators insist the rumors are bogus. A man in Northern California was found dead under a purple shroud (the cult's trademark) with a suicide note saying he hoped to join the cult aboard its spaceship, but there is no evidence that he ever belonged to the group. Reports over the weekend indicated that the cult's sexual asceticism stemmed from leader Marshall Applewhite's repression of his homosexuality, and that several members had castrated themselves to emulate him. In six days, the New York Times has run 36 stories on the suicide. (4/2)

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Heaven's Gate feeding frenzy: 1) ABC signed a deal to develop a TV movie about the cult. The Washington Post, noting that "the sure-to-be lucrative marketing of the mass suicides

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