Say it ain’t so! The Grim Reaper has been busy with pop culture icons lately with the loss of such giants as Kung-fu’s David Carradine, Ed McMahon, poster icon Farrah Fawcett, and the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Today we are hit with the horrible news that TV pitchman and icon Billy Mays has died in his sleep at the age of 50. Billy Mays was a spokesman for Orange Glo, Kaboom cleaner and the detergent OxiClean and appeared in popular infomercials for other products. Recently, Billy was featured on the reality TV show ”Pitchmen” on the Discovery Channel.

Billy Mays, the bearded infomercial pitchman with the trademark shout, has died in his sleep at home.

“Everyone [who knew] him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth,” the Discovery Channel (which aired his series, Pitchmen with Anthony Sullivan) said in a statement. “Billy was a pioneer in his field … He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family at this time of incredible loss.”

Authorities tells the Associated Press that the 50-year-old was pronounced dead Sunday morning after being found by his wife, Deborah Mays. No foul play is suspected. An autopsy is expected to be performed by Monday afternoon

There may be more to this story than just the passing of a TV icon. Mays returned to his Florida home the day before on a US Air flight that had a very rough landing in which the front tires of the plane blew out. The FAA is already jumping out saying that Mays was not wearing his seat belt during the landing and bumped his head or something hit him in the head.

This comes from Billy Mays Twitter and his last update where he states: “Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air.”

Mays was on the US Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Tampa on Saturday that had a hard landing at Tampa International Airport when the plane’s front tire blew out. There were no reported injuries on Flight 1241, US Airways told CNN.

According to a local Tampa TV station, Mays said: “All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head.”

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