Why do dead people get special privileges from others?

I was just reading a comment thread where someone made a joke about Michael Jackson and so many of the responses were just “wow how dare you talk about a dead man” “Why put down a dead man?”

Like oh ok so once someone dies they are absolved of all criticism? It’s such a weak rebuttal. Also a shocking amount of people writing “the jews killed him” Like what the fuck? People are so infantile in their attachments to celebrities.